• Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Critical Rationalism (Karl Popper)

    That it is the least probable theory that is to be preferred is one of the contrasting differences between critical rationalism and classical views on science, such as positivism, which holds that one should instead accept the most probable theory. The least probable theory is preferred because it is the one with the highest information content and most open to future falsification. — Wikipedia

    Credo quia absurdum (I believe because it is absurd) — Tertullian

    Certum est, quia impossibile (It is certain because it is impossible) — Tertullian

    If an improbable hypothesis is good, a fortiori, an impossible one is even better!
  • 180 Proof
    15.4k
    You've misquoted Tertullian twice. :halo:
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k


    I'm just amazed at how Tertullian or whoever first said "certum est, quia impossibile" and "credo quia absurdum" antcipated Popperian science. Surely, if someone claims something that's highly improbable or the impossible, s/he can't be lying. We can so easily falsify such lies that there would be no point to being mendacious. Ergo, Jesus did exist and he did fee 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, he did walk on water, the resurrection was real too.
  • Wayfarer
    22.8k
    You’re confusing your food processor with your word processor again, Smith.
  • 180 Proof
    15.4k
    I'm just amazed at how Tertullian or whoever first said "certum est, quia impossibile" and "credo quia absurdum" antcipated Popperian science.Agent Smith
    I'm amazed you think that (or don't understand critical rationalism).

    :smirk:
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    You’re confusing your food processor with your word processor again, Smith.Wayfarer

    :lol:

    I'm amazed you think that (or don't understand critical rationalism).180 Proof

    :grin:

    Truth (of a claim) Improbability (of the claim).
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    False180 Proof

    No, it isn't!
  • Ciceronianus
    3k
    Tertullian (Latin for "turtle") was probably just parroting Paul's curious argument that since God is so much wiser than man, his truth would appear foolish to wise men. So, the more foolish or absurd Christian doctrine is, the more worthy of belief it becomes. "Paul", by the way, derives from the Latin for "small, humble idiot."
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Tertullian (Latin for "turtle") was probably just parroting Paul's curious argument that since God is so much wiser than man, his truth would appear foolish to wise men. So, the more foolish or absurd Christian doctrine is, the more worthy of belief it becomes. "Paul", by the way, derives from the Latin for "small, humble idiot." — Ciceronianus

    Yep, that's the standard explanation for Tertullian's pronouncements. It does seem rather odd and arrogant that we think ourselves capable of apprehending & critiquing God, a being whose intelligence is orders and orders of magnitude greater than our best brains. To put things into perspective, God's worst ideas are our best ideas.

    Nevertheless, I wanted to explore the relation between the believability of a claim and how improbable that claim is; the point of a lie is to deceive and to that extent, a liar should keep his falsehoods as credible (read probable) as possible. The more impossible/improbable a statement is, the less likely it is to be a lie, oui monsieur?

    Jesus, rose from the dead? :rofl:
  • alan1000
    200
    "God's worst ideas are our best ideas."

    Before this "discussion" gets transferred to the religious forum, let me say this: there can be no continuity between our ideas and god's ideas because god possesses all of her qualities to an infinite extent; consequently, from god's perspective, human thinking and human affairs must appear to be infinitely trivial and inconsequential and, quite probably, of no logical value whatsoever.
  • Ludwig V
    1.7k
    Aren't you forgetting that God loves us (at least the Christian God does - I don't know enough about the other candidates), even though that's an incomprehensible mystery. I'm sure you're familiar with the way that loving somebody makes everything they do and say fascinating.

    I'm not sure whether to take Popper's remark seriously. Anyway, what he actually says is that the most improbable theory is to be preferred because it is the easiest to falsify. That's a good reason if one's project is to falsify theories. One could chalk up many successes quite quickly that way. However, colleagues might feel that I had misunderstood the point of research. But I suppose one might gradually zero in on something that was hard to falsify.

    If Popper's point is that a good theory needs to take risks in order to score, there is something to be said for this. Safe theories are easy to construct, but not very helpful. Surely, in the end a theory needs to be assessed on its relation to the evidence and to the problems it is meant to solve. Wild guesses might meet Popper's criterion, but they wouldn't get far on the grounds that they are risky alone.

    I've just spent 10 minutes trying to believe the theory that the moon is made of cheese. I couldn't. Does anyone know any exercises (apart from Lewis Carroll) that would help me improve?
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    @Ludwig V

    There's a rationale to miracles and interpretations thereof and it involves, inter alia, what truth (really) is.
  • javi2541997
    5.9k
    from (god's) nihilistic and ambiguity perspective, human thinking and human affairs must appear to be infinitely trivial and inconsequential and, quite probably, of no logical value whatsoever.alan1000

    :sparkle: :up:
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