[Vision2020] News Article, Mental Illness, Fixation of Belief Discussion

[Doug Jones]

Wayne Fox gets hotter:

> The so-called laws of logic which Mr. Jones eschews are properties of
> language needed for successful communication.  Contradictions, truth,
> falsity, etc. do not exist in objects but in the language used to
describe
> them.  

Oh great, Wayne, now look what you've done. You've just killed logic. If
logic is merely a property of a given historical language, then it is as
changeable and flexible as English grammar (something "contradictory"
three hundred years ago might not be now; grammar develops). You have
made logic utterly relative to a linguistic community. Yikes. No one
thinks English grammar should be the ultimate standard of rationality
and truth, especially the French. Perhaps you would like to try again. A
lot of local heat rides on this. 

(A good refutation of this sort of logical linguisticism can be found
at: Dallas Willard, "The Degradation of Logical Form, *Axiomathes,*
1997:
http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artid=24)



> Although Mr. Jones attempts to deride the use of logic as Neanderthal,
we
> notice that he attempts to logic  it in his replies to his detractors
-- a
> hypocrisy not rare among the professionally, zealously religious and
other
> charlatans.

Open your mind, Wayne. The world is a much more complicated place. From
a narrow rationalistic perspective, I can see why you think there are
only two options: logic or nonlogic. But those aren't the only choices.
There are other kinds of rational order, and they've been around in the
open for millennia. No need for hypocrisy or horny dilemmas on my part.
What might another option be? Stretch yourself.  Think outside the huffy
slogans.

Doug Jones