Is this nauseating?

Washington, DC

Is this nauseating?

PIRIE, MADSEN (2006)(2015) How To Win Every Argument, Bloomsbury, London.

The review of this philosophy text, continued.

Nauseam, argumentum ad

Simple repetition of a point of view does nothing to provide additional evidence or facts. (147).

My Mother in her earlier days, loved this approach...

'Yet it can erode the critical faculty'.' (147). Things are not more true because they are heard more often. (147).

Based on the author's example: (148).

I have told you three times...!!!

The fact is '...repetition adds nothing to logic.' (148). Fallaciously, psychological factors are appealed to as opposed to logic. (148). Emotion is favoured over reason. A subjective approach used over an objective approach.

Based on the author's example: (148).

To an RCMP officer:

It was not me!
I said, it was not me?
It was not me, for sure!

Out of interest, as with my last Langer, philosophical text review, where she uses socialism in an example, Pirie does here as well. He reasons that this fallacy could be presented with the terms 'Socialism means rule by the workers.' Pirie appears like me, to be of a conservative view. Perhaps in support of his suggestion, it could be stated that socialism exchanges one rule by elites for another rule by elites?

Here in Canada, being governed by the Conservative party is rule by a group of elites. I would reason that being governed by the New Democratic Party, would entail being ruled by another group of elites. Of course with present, media star, Prime Minister Trudeau and his followers of the Liberal Party. we are likely going to be ruled by the Liberal party elites for decades!

What is a reasonable, philosophical, political answer to being ruled by elites? Rule by the people through online referendums? Are enough people in the general public significantly educated with the issues to support reasonable views?

A theoretical referendum proposition:

Should Christian churches that support biblical standards on sexuality and marriage be made illegal in Canada?

This would be a proposition being presented to a Canadian public, largely not educated, within the disciplines of religious studies, philosophy, political science and constitutional law. The results could threaten religious liberty.

Pirie explains that 'political credos' are presented with the use of this fallacy. (148).

Wiktionary 

Cited: 

'Etymology 

Latin Noun argumentum ad nauseam (rhetoric) 

The false proof of a statement by (prolonged) repetition, possibly by different people.'

A twisted crown of thorns.com:  I think not...

BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 

CONWAY DAVID A. AND RONALD MUNSON (1997) The Elements of Reasoning, Wadsworth Publishing Company, New York. 

LANGER, SUSANNE K (1953)(1967) An Introduction to Symbolic Logic, Dover Publications, New York. 

PAPINEAU, DAVID (Gen. Ed) (2016) Philosophy: Theories and Great Thinkers, New York, Shelter Harbour Press. 

PIRIE, MADSEN (2006)(2015) How To Win Every Argument, Bloomsbury, London. 

SZUDEK, ANDY & TORSLEY, SARAH (2018) The Little Book of Philosophy, Landau Cecile (Ed), London, DK Publishing.

English socialists exist

LANGER, SUSANNE K (1953)(1967) An Introduction to Symbolic Logic, Dover Publications, New York.

I continue with the Langer, text review.

Some key symbols from the textbook:

≡df = Equivalence by definition
: = Equal (s)
ε = Epsilon and means is
⊃ = Is the same as
⊨ is Entails
˜ = Not
∃ =There exists
∃! =There exists
∴= Therefore
·= Therefore
 < = Is included
---

At times within symbolic logic, two classes might not be identical, and yet the classes overlap (138). There is at least one individual in class A that is a member of class B. (138).

If class A and class B were identical:

(x ε A) . (x ε B) (138).

X is Class A, therefore X is Class B.

Also:

(A x B  < A) . (A x B  < B)

Class A x Class B is included in Class A, therefore, Class A x Class B is included in Class B. (139).

A red apple belongs in the class of red things. (139). Below.

(x ε red thing) . (x ε apple) (139). Langer uses apple.

The defining function of two classes is placed into a class. (139).

But I can also observe using symbolic logic:

(x ε red thing) ˜ (x ε green apple)

A green apple does not belong in the class of a red thing.

Not all Englishmen (A) are socialists. (B). (139). Langer uses this example.

A ˜ B

Not all Englishmen are socialists. But there are English socialists that would be a subclass of both Englishmen and socialists. (139). The product of two classes producing English socialists. Note, female philosopher Langer uses the term Englishmen. This textbook was published in 1967, and originally 1953, and the English language has of course evolved in fifty years and previous.

I reason:

(∃! ES)

or

(∃! x ES)

There exists English socialists.

There exists English x socialists.

(A ˜ B) . (∃! A) . (∃! B) ⊨ (∃! ES).

Not all English are socialists, therefore the English exist, therefore socialists exist, this entails English socialists exist.

Very demotivational.com

Reaching Immigrants

Downtown Vancouver, last night: I did not attend here.

Reaching Immigrants

Last evening at a Christian event, an interesting perspective was provided by the speaker. Syrian refugees coming to this area could provide Metropolitan Vancouver, Christian churches with an opportunity to reach these new immigrants, largely from Islamic backgrounds, with the gospel message. Yes, in a minority of cases, some of these immigrants could be a security concern, but that issue is mainly the work of Canada's security services. My thought was that some Islamic, Syrian immigrants may be reached in dialogue with the gospel, after facing some very difficult and negative circumstances within Islamic society (s).

Of course from a biblical, Reformed perspective, no person is able to embrace the gospel unless this is first caused and willed by God. But a different and biblical view on theism, monotheism and the nature of God could be presented to Syrian immigrants.

PhD, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, 2010: Theodicy and Practical Theology

This means as God chooses to regenerate a person he simultaneously persuades one to freely believe.[1] Murray states that regeneration is logically antecedent to any conscious response,[2] and I reason that God’s choice to commit the act of regeneration must be antecedent due to the corrupt and sinful nature of persons.[3] The work of salvation was confined to God’s part in the calling.[4] This does not prohibit God from causing a compatibilistic human choice within conversion at the moment that God’s initial eternal choice to regenerate[5] becomes a divine act of regeneration.[6] As persons were regenerated they would hear the call of salvation, repent and believe in Christ.[7] I would view conversion as an aspect of regeneration, which is the beginning of the Christian experience.[8] Regeneration was to encompass the entire divine plan of recreation from the initial change in persons to the ultimate culmination of a new heaven and new earth.[9]

---

[1] This allows for a limited but significant human freedom within the salvation process that is not incompatibilism. Salvation remains alone a work of God.  Weber writes that God with his freedom effects both human freedom and human bondage as he reaches out to a saved person through the Word of God.  Weber (1955)(1981: 245).  This would be a work of the Spirit.

[2] Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172).

[3] Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 168-169).

[4] Bavinck (1918)(2006: 53).

[5] As God is eternal this choice could be viewed as such. Humans of course are not eternal.

[6] Persons have via the Holy Spirit been molded and transformed in order to freely believe. Thiessen, an incompatibilist, states that in regeneration the human is passive and is active in conversion. Thiessen (1956: 367).  I agree concerning regeneration, and I can agree in regard to conversion, only if by active the human being is convinced freely via the Holy Spirit and is not assumed to have incompatibilist free will.

[7] Bavinck (1918)(2006: 53).

[8] Franke notes that the Scripture explains that the Holy Spirit continued to guide the earliest Christians.  Franke (2005: 132).  The Spirit continues to work in regenerated/converted believers that embrace the gospel.

[9] Bavinck (1918)(2006: 53).

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2: God and Creation, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.  

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.html

CALVIN, JOHN (1540)(1973) Romans and Thessalonians, Translated by Ross Mackenzie, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

CALVIN, JOHN (1550)(1978) Concerning Scandals, Translated by John W. Fraser, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

CALVIN, JOHN (1552)(1995) Acts, Translated by Watermark, Nottingham, Crossway Books.  

CALVIN, JOHN (1553)(1952) Job, Translated by Leroy Nixon, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.  

CALVIN, JOHN (1554)(1965) Genesis, Translated by John King, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

ERICKSON, MILLARD (2003) What Does God Know and When Does He Know It? Grand Rapids, Zondervan.

FEINBERG. JOHN S. (1986) Predestination and Free Will, David Basinger and Randall Basinger (eds.), Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press.

FEINBERG, JOHN S. (1994) The Many Faces of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.  

FEINBERG, JOHN S. (2001) No One Like Him, John S. Feinberg (gen.ed.), Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books.

FRANKE, JOHN R. (2005) The Character of Theology, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

POJMAN, LOUIS P. (1996) Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, New York, Wadsworth Publishing Company.

MURRAY, JOHN (1937-1966)(1977) Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2: Select Lectures in Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.

THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

WEBER, OTTO (1955)(1981) Foundations of Dogmatics, Volumes 1 and 2, Translated and annotated by Darrell L. Guder, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

I pity the fool...

Memegenerator.net

Imgflip.com

I pity the fool...

Preface

PIRIE, MADSEN (2006)(2015) How To Win Every Argument, Bloomsbury, London.

The review continues.

Misericordiam, argumentum ad

Quote

'When we turn to pity instead of reasoned discourse to support a particular contention, we commit the argumentum ad misercordiam. (145).

Lander

Quote

'...Argumentum ad Misericordiam (argument from pity or misery) the fallacy committed when pity or a related emotion such as sympathy or compassion is appealed to for the sake of getting a conclusion accepted.'

Noted sources from Lander University:

Plato, Crito 45c-d, trans. Jowett.↩

Aristotle, Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric trans. Robert C. Bartlett (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), 6.↩

---

Based on Pirie's example (145). A fictional example:

In asking yourself if Chucky should be convicted by the Canadian government for tax evasion, ask yourself what it will mean for him to be locked in prison, a Mennonite, deprived of liberty, and turned into an outcast within western society.

Chucky pays his taxes, but the example stands.

Pirie writes that what is relevant is guilt or non-guilt, not the effects on the person charged. (145). The introduction of pity does nothing to prove an argument. (145). The author opines that this a fallacious approach used by many defence lawyers. (146). The use of the handkerchief is sometimes used to influence observers to provide someone in question with the benefit of the doubt. (146).

Interestingly, Pirie claims that Charles Dickens: 'A Christmas Carol', appeals to this fallacy. (147). The author explains Scrooge makes a decision contrary to economic reality. (147). I am not an expert on the book or related films. I have not read the text or seen a related film recently. I would state, that within my Christian worldview, I have no theoretical difficulty sharing some of my money and goods with the poor.

Oxford University Press

'Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam) A fallacy committed when the arguer attempts to evoke pity from the audience and tries to use that pity to make the audience accept the conclusion.' 

HERRICK PAUL (2014) Think with Socrates: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

My example of argumentum ad misericordiam...

The local drug addicts on the street have limited mental capacity and therefore cannot be held legally, ethically and morally responsible for any acts committed.

---

1. Is all significant ethical and moral capacity diminished in every case?

2. Was all significant and moral capacity diminished before he/she became a drug addict, in every case?

3. If #1 is sometimes 'no', and #2 is sometimes 'no', significant legal, ethical and moral responsibility exists in some cases. 

(Legal responsibility should be considered, at least, dependent on the laws that exist, in my humble opinion)

From New Testament theology, significant human, legal, ethical and moral responsibility and accountability is answered with the gospel. Those regenerate (John 3, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1) in Jesus Christ have sins covered through the applied atoning work of Christ on the cross, and death defeated through Christ's resurrection, also applied to believers.

Hebrews 2:14 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

14 Therefore, since the children share in [a]flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, Footnotes Hebrews 2:14 Lit blood and flesh

---

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2: God and Creation, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids. 

BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House. 

COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville. 

CONWAY DAVID A. AND RONALD MUNSON (1997) The Elements of Reasoning, Wadsworth Publishing Company, New York.

GRENZ, STANLEY J., DAVID GURETZKI AND CHERITH FEE NORDLING (1999) Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, Downers Grove, Ill., InterVarsity Press.

HERRICK PAUL (2014) Think with Socrates: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

LANGER, SUSANNE K (1953)(1967) An Introduction to Symbolic Logic, Dover Publications, New York. (Philosophy).

MURRAY, JOHN (1937-1966)(1977) Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2: Select Lectures in Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.

NUTE, ALAN G. (1986) in 'Titus', The International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, General Editor, Grand Rapids, Zondervan/Marshall Pickering. 

PIRIE, MADSEN (2006)(2015) How To Win Every Argument, Bloomsbury, London.

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology, Volume 1, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology, Volume 2, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

WEBER, OTTO (1955)(1981) Foundations of Dogmatics, Volumes 1 and 2, Translated and annotated by Darrell L. Guder, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.