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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The proposition that one has hands cannot itself serve as evidence for the proposition that one is not a handless brain in a vat

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.For external world propositions to serve as evidence against skeptical hypotheses, Closure and Transmission principles would need to coincide — i.e., evidence for p would need to be evidence for every q entailed by p
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Closure principles can hold without Transmission: one may need antecedent justification for q in order to be justified in believing p that entails q
      ?

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    • 3.The direction of evidential dependence between external world propositions and the negation of skeptical hypotheses runs from the negation of skeptical hypotheses to external world propositions, not the reverse
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Wittgenstein's On Certainty shows that propositions like 'I have hands' function as hinge propositions, not empirical evidence — they are preconditions for inquiry, not data within it.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Hinge propositions cannot transmit justification to what they presuppose because their epistemic role is foundational rather than inferential, making evidential transmission structurally impossible.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Wright's distinction between entitlement and evidence shows that warrant for 'I have hands' is itself parasitic on prior entitlement to trust one's perceptual faculties, which the skeptical hypothesis directly undermines.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Any proposition whose warrant presupposes the falsity of hypothesis H cannot serve as independent evidence against H, since the evidential chain is viciously circular rather than genuinely supportive.
      ?

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.