Think Again II
How to Reason Deductively

share ›
‹ links

Below are the top discussions from Reddit that mention this online Coursera course from Duke University.

Offered by Duke University. Deductive arguments are supposed to be valid in the sense that the premises guarantee that the conclusion is ... Enroll for free.

Reddsera may receive an affiliate commission if you enroll in a paid course after using these buttons to visit Coursera. Thank you for using these buttons to support Reddsera.

Taught by
Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Professor
and 1 more instructor

Offered by
Duke University

Reddit Posts and Comments

0 posts • 3 mentions • top 2 shown below

r/TrueAntinatalists • comment
1 points • gurduloo

I gather lol Maybe you should take some time to study deductive logic.

r/AskAChristian • comment
1 points • Maleficent_Effect_94

Well unlike you I'm really enjoying this discussion - because I'm in the middle of studying this free online course on logic( I highly recommend it by the way), and it is helping me practice what I'm learning.

The reason I "threw out the window" the scientific studies you pointed to is that they do not logically point to your conclusion.

​

​

Premise 1: The subjective reality of a human depends on a human's consciousness.

Premise 2: Human consciousness derives from a deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. ["Quantum consciousness"] {controversial study}

Premise 3: According to experiments, antimatter and matter should have been canceled out. ["The universe shouldn't exist"]

Conclusion 1: There must exist a god as a being of pure consciousness that shapes reality through the mind.

The conclusion does not follow from your premises.

You mistakenly believe that Premise 3 means there must be God Consciousness, because you think that otherwise there's no possible explanation for Premise 3.

So you are implicitly adding a premise 4:

The only possible way for there to be more matter than antimatter, is if a Conscious God made it that way.

That makes your argument circular. {I've highlighted the circular aspect in itallics}

Premise 1: The subjective reality of a human depends on a human's consciousness.

Premise 2: Human consciousness derives from a deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. ["Quantum consciousness"] {controversial study}

Premise 3: According to experiments, antimatter and matter should have been canceled out. ["The universe shouldn't exist"]

Premise 4: The only possible way for there to be more matter than antimatter, is if a god as a being of pure consciousness that shapes reality through the mind made it that way {NOT A VALID PREMISE - you haven't proven this}
Conclusion 1: There must exist a god as a being of pure consciousness that shapes reality through the mind.

I think you're trying to support premise 4 by saying: "If it's not God, what else could it be? We don't have any other accepted explanation yet, so it must be God".
That does not make the premise valid - it is the "God of the Gaps" fallacy, a variant on an "argument from ignorance" fallacy.