[People use this argument a lot, proly 'cause it's easy, but you also can't disprove leprechauns, unicorns, sasquatch, Cthulhu, the flying spaghetti monster, and space creatures living in Atlantis. Does this mean that they all have to exist? Of course not, that's ridiculous.]
Just because you find the existence of said creatures to be ridiculous does not mean they do not exist. Ignorance is not proof.
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He's actually correct on one thing - argument from personal incredulity is not good argument.
Of course, he misses the fact that the other fellow wasn't arguing from personal incredulity, but rather the complete absence of evidence for any of those beings, and how anyone who believes in them is considered a bit odd at best.
Probably. But I don´t see many people dying in the name of Leperchaun or Unicorns or, better, denying the most basic rights to some people or feeling persecuted because nobody apart from them believes in them. Of course, ignorance is not proof, but they haven´t shown any proof of their existence, because they don´t bother.
He's not arguing from personal incredulity - he's arguing, rightly, that to believe even one unprovable, unobserved thing exists without believing all others is inconsistent at best, and most likely based on personal incredulity on the part of the selective believer.
Just because you find the existence of said creatures to be ridiculous does not mean they do not exist. Ignorance is not proof."
But until you provide some evidence as to the existence of these creatures, we can proceed on the assumption that they do NOT exist. If you claim that they exist without providing any evidence, we are justified in not believing you. Without evidence, you got nothin'.
Okay, he's not completely hopeless where logic is concerned. Now we just need to get him to take that one little step of turning this around -- and, of course, get him to recognize that belief in his own sky deity is just as much a case of ignorance as the position he criticizes. It's that latter that's the hard part, when the fundie confuses sheer belief for factual knowledge.
~David D.G.
So you admit that Cthulhu exists and, therefore, needs to be appeased with human sacrifice, lest he rin horrible tentacled vengeance upon thou?
Actually, I don't see why this is here. He's right. There is no proof that any of those creatures exist. But there is also no proof that they do not exist. (Well, obviously there is; satellites and whatnot tell us that there is no Atlantis, blah blah, etc.) But the point is, if there is absolutely no proof that something exists AND no proof that it does NOT exist, then you cannot rightly say that it does not exist. Granted, you cannot rightly say that it DOES exist either, but the guy has a point. He's just saying that that goes both ways.
Okay, this is a start, so you believe in my gods.
Okay, between myself and my friends we have 60 different gods. How many do you have?
Just the one?
We win!
What? You'd win if you weren't so unimaginative.
Actually, I don't see why this is here.
Burden of proof. If there is no evidence, the default position is that they don't exist. It's possible for this to be disproven later by evidence of their existence, but until we have that evidence, it is unreasonable to assume the existence of something for which no evidence has been found.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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