A proposition that is made true by definitional construction rather than by the nature of reality cannot serve as a genuinely 'reasonable' empirical premise in an inductive argument against theism.

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Reasons For

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Reason for

1.Inductive arguments gain empirical force only from premises about actual world features, not from what language or definitions stipulate.
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2.A premise true by definition cannot falsify any substantive hypothesis, including theism, because it excludes no possible reality.
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3.Using definitional truths as empirical premises commits a category error, treating conceptual necessities as evidence about contingent facts.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against

1.Many empirical premises about observation involve definitional elements (e.g., 'water is H2O') yet remain legitimate inductive evidence.
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2.The distinction between 'definitional' and 'nature of reality' is unclear: definitions often encode discovered facts about how things actually are.
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3.Even if a premise is partly definitional, it can still carry empirical content and constrain which theistic models are coherent or plausible.
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Key Terms

Definitional construction(as used in logic): Something that is true only because of how we've defined the words, not because of how the world actually works.
Empirical: # Empirical Empirical means based on real observation, experience, or experiments rather than theory or guessing. When something is empirical, it's proven by actually testing it or seeing it happen in the real world, not just thinking about it logically. For example, empirical evidence might be data collected from a survey or results from a scientific experiment that shows what actually occurs.
Premise: A premise is a statement or fact that you assume to be true as a starting point for reasoning or making an argument. Think of it as the foundation or building block you use to reach a conclusion—for example, "All dogs are animals" and "My pet is a dog" are premises that lead to the conclusion "My pet is an animal." Premises are essentially the evidence or claims you offer before drawing a final conclusion.
inductive argument(contrasted with deductively valid arguments): An argument that is not valid — it is possible for all its premises to be true while its conclusion is false — but which can still transmit justification on non-deductivist views.
proposition(Used in the context of a semantic theory sensitive to differences in subject matter.): The content expressed by a sentence, individuated at least in part by the subject matter of the sentence and the contents of its subsentential expressions.
theism(Distinguished from monotheism as a weaker claim about the number of divine beings.): The position that at least one god exists.

Connections

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Problem of Evil1 linked

A premise true by definition cannot falsify any substantive hypothesis, includin...Assumption (1), as interpreted by Rowe, is eminently reasonable.Even if a premise is partly definitional, it can still carry empirical content a...Inductive arguments gain empirical force only from premises about actual world f...

Details

Type: claim
Perspectives: 2 (1 for, 1 against)
Edits: 1 edit