Today's topic was the Law of Non-Contradiction: A cannot be both B and non-B at the same time and in the same context. Here's a few examples to kind of explain what I mean... A claim cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same context. A dog cannot be both a dog and a cat (same time/context). I cannot be both in America and In Asia (same time/context).
Now, this seems sort of elementary as far as logical arguments go, but Nash went a bit deeper with it. Something he brought up that gave me a bit of trouble was bringing God into this Law of Non-cont. Having said that- there are things God cannot do. (Are you shocked? Appalled? Confused? I'll explain.) Take for example a passage in Hebrews that says God cannot lie. Why? Because it's against his character. God cannot be both evil and God. Part of his character is this Law. Now, to clarify, Nash is not putting Logic above God. God is logic. It's apart of his being. Not only that- it's an essential part of his being. Meaning, it cannot change or be distorted. If it is, and if it doesn't stand true to God, then there would be no difference between heaven and hell. God and the Devil. Get the picture? This law is the very fabric of who God is. Unchanging- and Non-Contradictory.
Nash then described this picture (or one similar to it). Think of this circle as the entire universe. B and non- B are compliments, because non-B is everything B is not. Make sense? Here's an example. A dog is in the box. It is "B". Everything that is not a dog is outside in the grey circle (non-B).This picture just illustrates why going against this principle, or not-believing it is complete non-sense. No one walks around thinking that a dog can be both a horse and a dog (same time/context). Nash then asks the question, "Why do hundreds of thousands of people have a world view that contradicts itself?" There isn't a good answer. Other than that they haven't discovered or accepted Christianity (The one world view that doesn't contradict itself.)
Ending thought from me: Since we as Christians have the right road map, the right world view, it's our job get the word out to people who don't. Nash didn't introduce this concept so that we can ponder it and go, "Great, I've got this figured out". That's only part of it. An assumption that can be derived from this whole thing is that we have a responsibility to show those who have been ignorant or not aware of the Law of Non-contradiction, how it works. It's not even the semantics that are important- just that people understand that contradictions (When it comes to world views especially) aren't OK. This opens the door for the other logic that makes up Apologetic. Without the fundamentals, the rest falls apart. Elementary maybe, but the implications are huge.
Even though your author thinks that worldview should not be self-contradictory, I think that everybody's is in some respect or another.
ReplyDeleteReality itself is not self-contradictory. An object is not in two places at once (except maybe for tachyons). An object will not have two speeds at the same time.
And you would expect that if your worldview represents reality, that it would not be self-contradictory as well. But I don't think this is the case. A worldview represents the way that a person sees the world, not the way the world actually is. A worldview represents our lenses, our perceptions.
We base our worldview on our experiences, and because experiences can be contradictory, our worldview will probably be contradictory as well.
Sometimes I walk down the street and view the world as though there is no God, and I experience the world only through my five senses. Other times, I am hit with an overwhelming feeling of the presence of God.
That experience is contradictory.
I agree with this to a certain extent. I think that an important thing to remember about Nash's argument though, is that only one worldview can be 100% right. That'd be God's- and his road map is the Bible. So, Christianity is the only "worldview" to fit this Law. We then use the road map (Scripture) to help us get our "worldview" to match God's. However- because we are people, and inconsistent sometimes (Well, a lot actually), our worldviews are twisted or slanted (as you said, based on different experiences and how we perceive things). Our lenses get messed up a bit, but because Christians follow the one that's Truth, we can use this as a premise to prove the other beliefs wrong.
ReplyDeleteBut I defiantly understood where you were coming from. I think if I had clarified that more in my original thing, it would have made more sense what I meant.
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