Finally, the site feels like it's beginning to expand.  I'd like to point out that from any page in here, if you, the reader ever see the word "Author" underlined or "the Man Upstairs," then it's not talking about me, it's talking about God.  So, without further delay, I'll let you get into some...
Tough thinking from the Author:

The lowdown on what to think of some ideas...


 


What is validity?
.
    When philosophers and logicians think of the term valid, they think of the
way an idea works.  When an idea is valid, it means that the previous ideas
logically lead to a conclusion.  The way validity works when discussing
philosophy is this:  Imagine that the ideas (philosophers call them “premises”)
that came before are totally true.  Can you think of a time when those
premises are true AND the conclusion is FALSE?  Let’s explore an example:
.
    Every person will eventually die.  (this is the first premise)
    I am a person.  (this is the second premise)
    ___________________________
    I will eventually die.  (this is the conclusion)
.
    If you only knew that the first premise and the second premise were true,
could you imagine any time when the conclusion is false?  The answer is
“no.”  You can’t, no matter who you say will eventually die.  So let’s see.
Suppose I have a friend named Jacob.  Let’s put his name into the premise and
into the conclusion like this:
.
    Every person will eventually die.
    Jacob is a person.
    ___________________________
    Jacob will eventually die.
.
    As you can see, this conclusion (philosophers call a set of premises and a
conclusion an argument) is still valid.  As long as I add the names of real
people I know, or as long as you add in the names of real people you know,
this argument will stay valid.
.
.

What is Soundness?
.
    When philosophers and logicians think of the term sound, they think of
whether or not an idea (or an argument) is actually true or not.  So, when they
consider whether or not to believe an argument, they ask whether it is valid,
and whether it is sound.
    The problem with soundness is this:  you have to have a valid argument
first.  If the argument is not valid, then it automatically is not sound.  An
invalid argument won’t prove anything.  However, there is a such thing as a
valid argument that still is not sound.  If it isn’t sound, it still does not prove
anything.  Let’s take a look at an argument that is valid, but not sound:
.
    All people are birds.
    All birds have wings.
    ___________________
    So all people have wings.
.
    If you really think about this, if you imagine that both of the premises were
true, you could not possibly say that the conclusion is false.  So, the argument
is valid.  Don’t let this confuse you:  You know that people are not birds, but
what if they were?  Birds have wings.  So if people were birds, they would
also have wings.  But here’s the problem, part of the argument is false.  Since
the first premise of this argument is false, we know that the conclusion has to
be false:
.
    All people are birds.  (this premise is false)
    All birds have wings.  (this premise is true)
    ___________________
    So all people have wings.  (the conclusion is false)
.
    So, even though the argument seems to be valid, it is still not sound.
    Think of an argument like a bridge that goes across a river.  All of the
premises are like the supports of the bridge, like steel girders.  The conclusion
is the place you’re trying to go, which happens to be on the other side of the
river.  So, if the bridge is valid, then it goes somewhere.  You could drive a
car across it, right?  But if the bridge is invalid, then it just ends somewhere
out in the middle of the river.  If you drove your car across that bridge, you
would end up in the river!
    Now, what if the bridge is unsound?  If the bridge were unsound, then the
steel girders would be there, and the bridge would lead over the river.  But,
not all of the girders would be strong enough to hold anything.  Some of them
would be rusty, and some prankster might have taken some of the girders out
on purpose, to make the bridge fall apart.  It doesn’t matter if the bridge does
go somewhere, if it is unsound, then it is unsafe to drive across!
.
.

Where does all this lead?
.
    We can use the terms of validity and soundness on any set of arguments, from
reasons why we make the decisions we make, to the reasons why scientists use to
prove a discovery.  In fact, the system which we have just discussed is the system
scientists use to help write about their discoveries.  They have to prove that a
discovery is the truth before other scientists decide to believe in it.
    Unlike philosophers, scientists call their premises and conclusions
“theories.”  But a theory is the same as an “argument,” it just has a different
name.  What we will do in the pages that follow this is take on a particularly
famous scientific theory and question both the validity AND the soundness of
the argument.  The reason why we will do this is to determine whether or not
that theory is worth being believed.  Does the theory hold up under our tests,
or does it fall apart?  We will find out soon enough.  Until next time, God
bless you.

As the author of this website, I do not extend my copyrights to this material.  Feel free
to copy any material seen in these pages and send it to someone you care about.
Above all, the material in this page
is dedicated to Jesus Christ, and not to myself.
.
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By no means do I intend to offend anyone with this material.  But, in the same way my science fiction can make people think about things, so can this.  If offended, please understand that these are thoughts I am sharing with the internet community.