XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Taemon@zonnet.nl   
      
   On 2-6-2014 2:58, Paul S. Person wrote:   
   > On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 13:38:56 +0200, Taemon  wrote:   
   >   
   >> It is not a fact, no. It just isn't something to take into account, and   
   >> there are very good reasons for that. Like the Celestial Teapot, the   
   >> Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, you MUST have had this   
   >> discussion before.   
   > I have had similar discussions before and, if one of them was with   
   > you, feel free to drop out of this one. No point in rehashing the   
   > past.   
      
   Oh no, that's not what I meant. I don't think you and I have had any   
   extended discussion at all.   
      
   I just meant to say that this discussion always follows the same script.   
   "You can't prove that X doesn't exist!" "No, but I don't have to." "Then   
   how do you know?!" "" "But you don't   
   know!" ""   
      
   You know. That.   
      
   > I think a bit of concreteness might help: all I am really trying to   
   > say is that your prior statement that you "know that magic doesn't   
   > exist" would, given its nature as a non-falsifiable statement, have   
   > been more clearly (and so arguably better) put as "believe that magic   
   > doesn't exist" (modifying "believe" with whatever adverbs, such as   
   > "strongly", "definitely", "deeply", and so on you feel appropriate).   
      
   True, I didn't use the correct language of falsification. I shouldn't   
   have implied "Magic doesn't exist" but said "there is no reason to   
   assume that magic exist", which is I guess 6 on the Dawkins scale of   
   atheism, in which 1 is "100 per cent probability of God, I do not   
   believe, I /know/" and 7 is "I know there is no God". But then with   
   magic instead of God. A bit of the same in my head anyway.   
      
   > It is a fact that you believe that magic doesn't exist, but that does   
   > not make it a fact that magic doesn't exist, and (in my experience)   
   > claiming that this is a fact when it is only a belief confuses others   
   > for no good reason.   
      
   Well, I won't say no good reason. Look at what happened here :-)   
      
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