Originally posted by aldo_14
a) What are my motivations?
The basic motivation of all humans is obtain happiness, most humans have no learned that truth is worth more than happiness, or have not learned to seperate their emotions from their critical thinking.
Either way the first one leads to the second one - and therefore they both interfere with your ability to make rational decisions. This is the primary fundamental motiviation for people to be religious.
Now I probably hear and objection about "but some good scientists are religious!" This is due to the process of compartmentalization. A certain area of your knowledge/consciousness is partitioned in your mind and one refuses to apply critical thinking to it. This is partially enabled by the fact that most people are indoctrinated before they are capable of critically thinking, most people are almost completely incapable of total and complete reconstruction o their thought processes by the time they learn critical thinking, if they ever truely learn it.
Originally posted by aldo_14
b) being able to phrase an argument in a clear and logical manner - i.e. in the preferred language of this boards - is equally as important as throwing about latin quotes in the obvious hope of trying to confuse people / look a smart-arse. At least I can say I've always tried to explain the fundamental basis of my own arguments - you haven't insofar as I can see, and you haven't responded to those questions that have been asked.
Excuse me?! "In obvious hope of trying to confuse people" BULL**** - when I say someone has commited a logical fallacy, and named that logical fallacy - it means they commited a logical fallacy and that's simple - if you don't like me using the proper terminology - TOUGH ****
You clearly haven't even been reading this thread the fundamental basis of my arguments is quite clear. Tiara commited an argumentum ad hominem (for the petulenetly undereducated: "Attack against the person") and so are you.
Originally posted by aldo_14
So i'll ask again - what is your 'understanding' of this issue? What are 'the rules of logic' you are using, and how are you applying them? Why do / how can you 'loathe' a belief structure - is is simply because you don't subscribe to it?
A) I have been debating this issue for 8 years, I have an intiminate knowledge of the human pyschology involved, the neurochemistry behind that psychology, the evidential status of all subjects uinvolved in this issue
B) There is only one set of the rules of Logic - it's the ones they would have taught you in university had you listened [in some better educated areas like mine you tend to learn them in high school]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic#Philosophical_logicC) I loath any belief structure in which the person takes pleasant lies over boring reality. I loath any belief structure to which a person clings to something fervently without evidence. I loath any belief structure to which a person clings to elements that are directly disproven by evidence.
Originally posted by aldo_14
NB: what exactly does 'excuse the **** out of me' mean? Does that mean you're admitting **** is coming out of you? (hopefully from the biologically natural areas of the body, otherwise I'd see a doctor
)
Hardy Har har - you know exactly what I mean - excuse me for using the proper nommeclature of Logic in my application of logic