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Originally Posted by peacegirl
He never said anyone was stupid or deluded. He was just frustrated and this was his way of trying to preclude anybody from forming any preconceived ideas, although unfortunately it had a reverse effect.
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Originally Posted by Angakuk
Everyone has preconceived ideas. That is, everyone has ideas and everyone brings the ideas that they have (however they were arrived at) to everything they hear, see, read or experience. While it is possible to read charitably, it is not possible to read without bias. Asking a reader to read without bias is asking the impossible.
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You're right, but we do the best we can to eliminate bias in order to be as objective as possible.
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Originally Posted by LadyShea
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Originally Posted by Lessans
You may reason that many people have been positive that they were right but it turned out they were wrong, so couldn’t I also be positive and wrong? There is a fallacious standard hidden in this reasoning. Because others were positive and wrong, I could be wrong because I am positive.~ Lessans page 3
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Originally Posted by Vivisectus
So, according to the author it is fallacious to consider that because many people have been positive and wrong that Lessans might also be wrong. All ideas have the possibility of being wrong, so it is not remotely fallacious to consider the possibility.
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Of course it isn't. He was just showing that people often use fallacious reasoning to support their beliefs. People will conclude that because people in the past have been positive and wrong, he's could be wrong because he's positive. He was just demonstrating the kind of fallacious logic that people use.
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Originally Posted by Angakuk
If someone were to make the argument that Lessans could be wrong because he was positive, that would be a fallacious argument. This is a classic strawman. I seriously doubt that anyone has ever made that particular argument. It is much more likely that people have made the argument that Lessans could be wrong even though he was positive. This is a perfectly true statement and not the least bit fallacious. The only way in which this could be construed as being fallacious is if it were true that Lessans could not possibly be wrong with regard to that about which he was positive.
Peacegirl, are you prepared to claim that it is impossible for Lessans to be wrong with regard to something about which he was positive that he was correct?
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I know that people will be upset with me, but yes, he was positive that he was correct.
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Originally Posted by LadyShea
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Originally Posted by Lessans
Edison when he first discovered the electric bulb was positive and right. Einstein when he revealed the potential of atomic energy was positive and right —and so were many other scientists — but they proved that they were right with an undeniable demonstration, which is what I am doing. ~Lessans page 3
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What he fails to mention is that Edison and Einstein used evidence and data in their demonstrations. Edison has an actual working light bulb to show people, and was able to explain it so others could easily replicate his work and demonstrate it for themselves! Einstein had pages and pages of notes and complex math that he showed to other physicists for their thorough critique, so that any flaws or mistakes could be recognized and addressed. |
You might also mention that aspects of Einstein's work are as testable as Edison's light bulb.
Eclipse that Changed the Universe
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Some things are easily tested empirically. Unfortunately, this discovery didn't lend itself to this type of testing.