FAIR logical analysis

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_Stocks
_Emeritus
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FAIR logical analysis

Post by _Stocks »

It is notable that FAIRMormon's topical page includes a link to logical fallacies.

Way to go, educating the humble, faithful seeker of truth!

https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Logical_fallacies

It is likewise notable that Mormon apologists are frequently accused of resorting to a gross misuse of logical fallacies when it suits them, while being quick to point out the smallest logical fallacy used by disaffected members.

This reminds me of something:
Jesus in Matt 7 wrote:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

By definition, the LDS apologist defends a position which is proven through a combination of study and faith. It cannot depend solely upon facts or logical analysis.

I have heard countless stories on podcasts and online posts about good TBMs who start in the rabbit hole, head over to FAIR, and find their faith even more destroyed by what they find (or rather don't find) there.

I wonder if that has something to do with the use of logical fallacies, masquerading as convincing proof to remain faithful?

This makes me curious:
  • Has anyone conducted a logical fallacy analysis on the articles at FAIR Mormon?
  • I am especially the section on "evidences" which seems overflowing with fallacious arguments, presented as evidence.
… the only thing to do when a man is wrong is to be right by ceasing to be wrong. -- Edwin Lefevre
_Dr Exiled
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _Dr Exiled »

Their logical fallacy use is the highlight of their hypocrisy. Just look at any conference and one will see a mountain of appeals to authority, popularity, etc., etc. It's as if logical fallacies are baked into Mormonism. Yet the apologists want to imply that they are above such.
"Religion is about providing human community in the guise of solving problems that don’t exist or failing to solve problems that do and seeking to reconcile these contradictions and conceal the failures in bogus explanations otherwise known as theology." - Kishkumen 
_Stocks
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _Stocks »

Exiled wrote:Yet the apologists want to imply that they are above such.


Exactly!!
… the only thing to do when a man is wrong is to be right by ceasing to be wrong. -- Edwin Lefevre
_Gadianton
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _Gadianton »

The apologist fascination with "logical fallacies" (and they are far better at committing them than identifying them) kind of has two separate lives.

The first is knee-jerk competitiveness, and it's very superficial. Back in the day, the apologists would correct grammar and (attempt to) identify logical fallacies in critic's arguments in order to take the wind out of the critic's sail.

But there's a deeper life, where faith that seeketh understanding slowly takes up more ground until the apologists really, at a deep level, are convinced that those who reject the Book of Mormon are incapable of basic logical thought.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.

LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
_Physics Guy
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _Physics Guy »

I think a lot of the time it's Dunning-Kruger. People who don't really get logic like to think themselves experts. Seeing some classic examples of bad reasoning, and understanding why they're bad, is a great experience, but too much enthusiasm about logical fallacies is itself a bad sign for me. When the box on the kitchen counter is full of recipe cards showing how to avoid each of the different ways to burn toast, you're probably not dealing with a professional cook.

Some of these people are professors and stuff, though, and I expect they are in fact sharp enough to follow simple logic. This is precisely the problem in those cases, I think. They don't get out of their bubbles much, to talk to intellectual peers with different views from theirs, so they get used to being the smartest people in the room all the time. They start to think they're smarter than everyone.

I've interacted with some Nobel laureates. They've all been quick to raise penetrating questions but slow to reach firm conclusions. The real big league seems to be such a competitive place that even the smartest people have to be humble.
_DrW
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _DrW »

Physics Guy wrote:I've interacted with some Nobel laureates. They've all been quick to raise penetrating questions but slow to reach firm conclusions. The real big league seems to be such a competitive place that even the smartest people have to be humble.

Words to live by.
David Hume: "---Mistakes in philosophy are merely ridiculous, those in religion are dangerous."

DrW: "Mistakes in science are learning opportunities and are eventually corrected."
_deacon blues
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Re: FAIR logical analysis

Post by _deacon blues »

Socrates, "I know that I know nothing" comes to mind. This is why I sometimes tell TBM's "When you say you "know" something, it makes me doubt you more." (It tells me they may be careless with words and their meaning.
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