[lit-ideas] Re: Hobbes's Proof
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 10:50:34 +0100 (BST)
--- On Wed, 6/4/11, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> In a message dated 4/5/2011 8:18:29 A.M, donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx
> writes:
> I guess it depends on whether Moses went beyond
> describing predictable
> facts about his death to offering specific details,
> like the exact time of his
> passing, that he could not have written up
> later.
>
> I fail to see how that can prove anything.
>
> Surely it could have been coincidental.
>
> In other words, "he could not have written" does not seem
> to depict a
> logical contradiction.
Very little historical evidence is a proof of, or depicts, a logical
contradiction: conversely, something may be compelling evidence or proof though
it falls short of demonstrating something by logical necessity. So the argument
that the 'could not' "does not seem to depict a logical contradiction" seems
misplaced.
Of course, logically it is possible if I now write out the details of my death
[in an hour's time, hit by a red tractor being driven by a drunk farmer in
London] that by coincidence these details prove accurate - but it is not at all
likely. The question raised is whether the specific details given about Moses'
death are such that it is unlikely that he could written them in advance.
Surely if the exact time of my death is written correctly [e.g. 10:51], then it
can hardly have been written correctly beforehand and therefore cannot have
been written by me? If so, why does JLS fail to see how this can prove anything?
There are less straightforward cases admittedly, where the character of the
'proof' is more controversial. Those who saw Knut the panda reading the 'Death
by Drowning' section of 'The Waste Land', shortly before his demise, have
vehemently disagreed as to whether this shows that Knut foresaw his own death
or whether in fact he was the author of the poem.
Donal
Avoiding any kind of tractor
In fact, not even leaving the building
For the next hour or so
London
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