[quote]Brayton wrote:
Vicomte wrote:
Brayton wrote:
Vicomte wrote:
In a situation where there are only two possibilities about which one knows absolutely nothing, logic dictates they are both equally likely.
I’m not sure I understand your reasoning here. In a situation where there are two possibilities about which one knows absolutely nothing, logic does not dictate anything at all. Logic has nothing to do with your ignorance or lack thereof.
I think what you mean to say is that in a situation where there are only two possibilities about which one knows nothing, then a claim on either side is EQUALLY VALID. Equally valid in the sense that neither belief has anything going for them, so they’re on equal footing.
But that certainly does not imply that there’s a 50-50 chance and they’re equally likely. The nature of the world determines what is likely about it, not the ignorance or wisdom of its inhabitants.
Since we cannot absolutely know one way or another, it’s not ignorance so much as a condition of the mathematics. If there is an actual, absolute, correct answer, seeing as there is no way of knowing it, from any given two choices they must be equally true. I understand what you’re saying, but you’re assuming there is a right answer that we just don’t know. I’m assuming that because we can never know the answer (at least in our present state), that ignorance is a law of the argument, not a variable. If that makes sense.
Like Schroedinger’s cat, only you aren’t given the option to look in the box, ever. Remove the possibility of your intervention(because your intervention is impossible) and both options are not only equally likely, but they must be equally true, as there is no absolute truth to be gained no matter how much time passes. It’s parity by default.
Make any sense?
Great post - thanks for that. I have a hard time understanding how the discussion could be meaningful if you don’t assume that there is in fact a correct answer (but we just don’t know it), though. Isn’t that the basis of inquiry?
[/quote]
That’s the thing. I don’t believe the discussion IS meaningful. On the contrary, it’s equivalent to taking the proverbial piss.
Which is why I don’t much care for bigger-picture philosophy.