Re: The Promise of Forth

Guy Macon wrote:
John Doty wrote:

The world does not run on logic: the belief that it does is the fallacy. Indeed, logic, used the reckless way the idolaters of logic use it, proves that logic is useless, since it shows that any flaw in the premises invalidates the conclusion. All human knowledge is necessarily contingent and uncertain, so logic must therefore be useless. QED

I am speechless. All I can do is to let the above stand without
any comment other than noting that the author claims to have a
basic knowledge of the scientific method.

The scientific method does not rely on logic to judge hypotheses: if it did, we would have rejected Newtonian physics (based in the illogical calculus) and quantum mechanics (dependent on Bohr's *explicit* rejection of the idea that logic operates in the quantum world).


Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,[SNIP!]

There is no need to demonstrate in detail that you don't know what a null hypothesis is and are thus only able to argue
against a strawman parody of it.

Demonstrate exactly how this parody differs in any important detail from your method of argument.

We already know that from
the rest of your writing. You have been advised to read a
book on critical thinking. Obviously you have decided to not
heed that advice.

I have read a great many books on critical thinking. The most recent one is "18 Unconventional Essays on the Nature of Mathematics" (Reuben Hersh, Ed.), a wonderful demolition of Platonism, and containing some real wisdom about how we might replace it.

Another fine essay is "The Nature of Knowledge" by R. A. Lyttleton.

--
John Doty, Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
--
History teaches that logical consistency is neither sufficient nor necessary to establish practical, real world truth. Those who attempt to use logic for that purpose are abusing it.
.

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