In simple words, logic is “the study of correct reasoning, especially regarding making inferences.” Logic began as a philosophical term and is now used in other disciplines like math and computer science.
There is a small nuance between ‘a belief’ and ‘I believe’. There’s also a misunderstanding around the logical entailments of beliefs. In this short piece, I hope to explain the difference. Basic definitions of Belief A belief is: But “a belief” isn’t just that. It should be considered more in the noun sense. A belief…
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Set theory is one of the foundational concepts in modern mathematics, or more specifically mathematical logic. This branch of mathematics deals with the study of sets, which are well-determined collections of objects that are completely characterized by their elements. In other words, two sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements….
Logic is a lot harder than people give it credit for, and logical fallacies are no different. Both are frequently misunderstood and misused on the internet, and it can often be us atheists/sceptics and other folks that claim to be logical that make the mistakes. Sometimes there is the idea that because we know the…
It’s not uncommon on Social Media to be met with some strange takes on subjects that are pretty well grounded, like the False Dichotomy. Folks can make mistakes, but instead of realising that and learning from that they often double down. Today we are going to be discussing the False Dichotomy. What it is, how…
Read More ““False Dichotomy!” – The Dilemma of Arrogance and Willful Ignorance” »
When I think about language and linguistics, I often do it through the lens of logic and so I sometimes apply these terms to language. This might not be the ‘normal’ way we use the terminology, but I find it a useful way to discuss the language being used. Language is the way we try…
Read More “Logic, Language & Linguistics – How to Analyse Definitions” »
“You can’t prove a negative” is such a common phrase among atheists these days and it’s ridiculous!
Do You really think you can’t prove a negative or non-existence?
Well, you’re mistaken – check out this post to find out how!
I’m an atheist, I believe gods do not exist, though atheism is polysemous so not all atheists use it that way and I want to address a term some atheists use known as agnostic atheism. This article is the written form of the video, so, if you prefer to watch, please check the below: Agnostic…
The null hypothesis is used in science, and we atheists tend to have a lot of respect for science, the scientific method, scientific and empirical evidence. We think of ourselves as logical and rational people. We feel we know a lot about the topics we discuss, especially when it comes to science. In conversations with…
Read More “Misunderstanding The Null Hypothesis and Knowledge.” »
Something that comes up quite often in conversations is people saying things are logically impossible. This, at times, is used correctly however, there is often a misunderstanding over what is meant by logical and what it means by possible. Possibility When speaking of possibility we are talking about the likelihood something can happen. This is…
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As a site that proclaims to have ‘Answers in Reason’ we have very few articles about what this actually means. When we speak of reason, we are speaking of the cognitive process of; actively thinking through a topic and coming to conclusions based on all available/known arguments and data. To summarise Plato, reason is the…
The repetitious nature of folks trying to prescribe a singular definition of atheism, and claiming that other definitions are, “talking about something else” or are “wrong”, seems to never die. What’s worse, these folks who take you saying that there are actually multiple uses of atheism claim that YOU are the one being prescriptive and…
There are some people who like to oversimplify not believing a proposition. They will say things like “You either do believe or you don’t believe, there is no third option!” On the surface, this statement is correct. The problem is, it doesn’t actually fully capture the type of not believing. This is why conflations of…
Read More “Different Types of Not Believing & The Law of Excluded Middle” »
As an atheist, even one that doesn’t feel that in tune with many other atheists, I still want atheists to come from a position of strength. I want us to have good arguments, sound reasoning and solid logic. This is a big part of why I have the Bad atheist arguments series and the SciPhi…
Read More “The Problem With ‘Atheism is the Default Position’ Arguments” »
Begging the question is a fallacy in which the premises of an argument assume the truth of the conclusion instead of supporting it. You may have also heard of this being called circular reasoning. The phrase begging the question originated in the 16th century as a mistranslation of the Latin petitio principii, which in turn…
A proposition is a bivalent statement (or claim) that expresses a judgement or opinion. It is truth-apt and, therefore, can be true or false. A claim is an assertion something is true (or false). There’s is propositional content in a claim but they are not exactly the same thing, at least not always. What’s the…
Why should we be interested in logic? What does it mean to be logical? How does logic tie into rationality? Questions we should be thinking about, especially if we view ourselves as logical and/or rational people. What Does it Mean to Be Logical? Something is logical if it adheres to the rules of logic. There…
