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Apologetics |
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GOD AND LOGIC |
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Proof, Rationality and Theism |
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Mike Robinson |
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AAP: Copyright
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 God, The Laws of Logic, and Knowledge
Chapter 2 Absolutes, Certainty, and the One and Many
Chapter 3 Logic, Reason, and The Laws of Logic: A Theistic Exposition
Chapter 4 Modal Logic and Arguments for the Existence of God
Chapter 5 Science, Religion, and Naturalism: Reviews
Appendix I The God of Christian Theism
Appendix II Noteworthy Words, Language, and Terminology
Bibliography
Online Resources: Books, Blogs, and Website
Copyright Notice
New Volumes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men (Mortimer Adler).
I acknowledge that various arguments I present were influenced by the work of outstanding disparate scholars: William Lane Craig, James Anderson, C.S. Lewis, Cornelius Van Til, Don Collect, David Reiter, Stephen T. Davis, Charles Taliaferro, Saul Kripke, William Alston, Irving Copi, Paul Helm, Greg Bahnsen, Esther Meek, Michael Polanyi, John Frame, Jonathan Edwards, Michael Rea, Steve R. Scrivener, Paul Moser, J.P. Moreland, Alvin Plantinga, Eleanor Stump, Bernard Lonergan, C.I. Lewis, Douglas Kelley and countless additional scholars. Without their insights this volume would not have been sustainable. Nevertheless, any theological or philosophical inaccuracies and flawed exertions within this treatise should be ascribed to me alone.
CHAPTER ONE
God, the Laws of Logic, and Knowledge
Truth and hatred of truth come into our world together. As soon as truth appears, it is regarded as an enemy (Tertullian).
The laws of logic are not psychological laws of takings-to-be-true, but are laws of truth (Frege).
Logic: “The study of argument [not a quarrel]; a piece of reasoning in which one or more statements are offered as support for some other statement” (S. Morris Engel: With Good Reason).
Logic is: (1) The Science of Argument. (2) A Hermeneutical Tool. (3) A Science of Commitment (John Frame: DKG, p. xi).
Logic is the study of the methods and principles used to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning (Irving Copi: Introduction to Logic).
The Laws of Logic: Laws of truth, thought and reason that are immaterial, aspatial, atemporal, universal, obligatory, necessary, immutable, and absolute. Some academics identify them as the laws of thought, the laws of truth, or the laws of reason. Various scholars strongly prefer to name them the laws of logic (LL) because they are independent of human minds and are ubiquitous throughout all experience. All rational thinking (and communication) presupposes and uses the laws of logic.
The Law of Identity (LOI) is A=A. The most well-known law is the Law of Non-contradiction (LNC): A cannot be A and Non-A at the same time in the same way (A~~A). A man cannot be his own father.
The laws of logic “are basic principles of reasoning” (Frame: CVT).
The laws of logic reflect the nature and mind of the true God; thus, they have ontological grounding—that is, they are grounded in the very nature of truth itself and cannot be reduced to human convention, opinion or psychology. Without these laws, knowledge and rational thinking are impossible. To deny the laws of logic, one must use these laws in one’s attempt to deny them. Those who deny the laws of logic are participating in a self-defeating endeavor. The Law of Non-contradiction (also known as the Principle of Contradiction or the Law of Contradiction) is perpetually necessary and in the words of Aristotle: “One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time.”
The laws of logic are a feature related to the systematic, non-contradictory structure reflective of the way God has created and fashioned things based on his own ontology; a characteristic of the way God thinks.
Various scholars assert that the Law of Excluded Middle may have real exceptions.
Allan Bloom stated that “The earliest-known explicit statement of the principle of contradiction, the premise of philosophy, and the foundation of rational discourse” is given in Plato’s Politeia. Therein is where the character Socrates states, “It’s plain that the same thing won’t be willing at the same time to do or suffer opposites with respect to the same part and in relation to the same thing” (for more see my Apologetic Book: Truth, Knowledge, and the Reason for God at: http://thelordgodexists.com/product/truth-knowledge-and-the-reason-for-god-the-defense-of-the-rational-assurance-of-christianity/).