[Vision2020] Everyone deserves death

[Chasuk]

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 10:44 PM, Donovan Arnold
<donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> That is EXACTLY what he is asserting;

> "If people knew that there is no life after death, only life before
> death, they would live their lives more realistically."---Ralph Neilson

An assertion is an emphatic declaration, which the above is not.  He
is making a proposition.

1.  "Lets suppose that people learn from various, normally reputable
sources that bananas cause cancer."

ANALYSIS: This establishes justified belief.  In other words, it
establishes what most people would call knowledge.  We all know that
"knowledge" can be wrong, but for the purposes of this illustration
reasonable steps to ascertain the truth have been taken here.

2.  "i propose that if item #1 were true, then most people would avoid
bananas."

ANALYSIS: Would I be asserting that bananas caused cancer?  At a
facile reading, perhaps.  However, that reading would be wrong.
Logically, any "if, then" statements can only be propositions, not
assertions.

To anticipate and counter your too-obvious objection, note that the
presence of the word "then" isn't required (and hence is actually
redundant) where it can be contextually inferred.

Consider also that Ralph isn't stupid.  He knows that the existence of
the afterlife cannot be disproved.  I expect that he doesn't answer
your question because he finds it impossible to believe that you would
sincerely ask it.

Chas