[Category:Books]
Read April/May, 2018
Takeaways
- There is no such thing as a priori reasoning. All reasoning comes from experience.
- All we know about causes and effects is that our experience tells us that certain objects or events are linked with others. How or why they are linked, we really don’t understand.
- When reasoning about causes and effects, we cannot claim any knowledge about the cause beyond the effect that we experience. To do so is to either make something up, or to engage in unreasonable reasoning
- If a chain of reasoning leads to an absurdity, then we know that one or more of the premises or logical steps is erroneous. However, if a chain of reasoning leads us to a conclusion that we find odious, that does not have any bearing on whether or not the reasoning is true.
- Belief doesn’t so much seem to be a decision as a feeling which one has in response to the weight of evidence for and against a proposition, as judged by his experience
- No weight of human testimony is enough to substantiate or warrant belief in a miracle that contradicts the entirety of one’s experience
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be very pragmatic and relevant, unlike some of the other philosophy that I’ve been exposed to