Atheism 101 Critical Thinking Class Exercise, by request!

[intaglio]

68. What foolishness you display

The falsification is in your use of words. Before your simplistic logic can stand up you have to show that the terms you use and their relation are valid. The relation you have chosen, that reason and imagination are antithetical, is false. Demonstrate the reality of your relation and you might have an argument but reason and imagination are complementary. A well known example shows this: the observation and careful analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA by Rosalind Franklin would have lead to the helical structure being found but Watson and Crick took the leap of imagination to work from a concept of the double helix back to the image (I will leave aside their dubious ethics in acquiring the image). Indeed it can even be said that it takes imagination to see when reason can be applied to a problem and reason can lead you to see the necessity for a leap of imagination.

The limitation on the MP/MT is always that the premise is true in the context of the argument. The classic MP argument:

A key is needed to open the door, I can open the door therefore I have a key;

is only true within a context where the door is locked or latched with a mechanism that requires a key. To make the argument you therefore have to use the words accurately and carefully:

A key is needed to unlock the door, I can unlock the door, therefore I have a key.

In the context of your argument your premise is false because you have assumed that imagination and reason are antithetical when - they - are - not. This ignorance rots the heart of your argument. Do you choose to dispute the simple truth of the relationship of reason and imagination? Or is your facility for critical thinking so warped that you cannot see this truth?

You wish us to assume that you are arguing in good faith but your falsification of your argument and your inability to defend your choice of words shows us otherwise