[lbo-talk] Appeal to Ignorance (Rushdie: Just give me that old-time atheism!)

Jim Devine jdevine03 at gmail.com
Tue May 31 06:51:43 PDT 2005


me:
>>>We have to admit that it's only a working hypothesis that
supernatural beings don't exist. It's a working hypothesis that's worked pretty well over the years.<<<

Yoshie: > Jim Devine commits a divine logical fallacy here called "Appeal to Ignorance: <http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ignorant.html>. The burden of proof is on those who make an improbable claim, such as "God exists," "gods exist," or "I have a herbal remedy that makes your penis three inches longer and thicker." Those who fall for an improbable claim, merely because there is no evidence yet that the claim is untrue, are called "suckers." They are the ones who fuel the economy of spam. :-> <

Note that it's my working hypothesis that gods and/or goddesses don't exist (and that penis-enhancing herbal remedies don't exist). A working hypothesis is one that one puts into practice. So I don't tithe or send money to people on the Internet.

What's an "improbably claim" anyway? a few years ago, it was an improbable claim that there were techtonic plates under the ground that caused earthquakes.

J.Devine



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