Is logic over-rated?

[Phasmid]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

How many times have you watched CSI and, using your logic, thought, "Ah-ha! It was that Steevenson guy!" only to find out, "What? It was the victim's transexual, one-legged, homosexual bodyguard!? I didn't see that one comming!"?

And you can watch pretty much any Star Trek episode and the Vulcan's logic gets trumped by the Human concept of, "gut".

So, why do atheists put so much stock in logic?

 

[Willamena]

Ahh, television, the epitome of logic and rationality.

 

[Phasmid]

Ahh, television, the epitome of logic and rationality.

Reality isn't much more logical.

 

[crystalonyx]

Everything has its place, but I would say if anything, logic is used too little, and emotion too much in this world.

 

[Willamena]

Reality isn't much more logical.

It can be.

 

[ChristineES]

Maybe people need a mix of logic and rhetoric. Look how the mix of Captain Kirk (rhetoric) and Mr. Spock (logic) always worked well together. They needed each other so I assume that logic needs rhetoric and rhetoric needs logic. (I hope I haven't confused anyone).

 

[Smoke]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

How many times have you watched CSI and, using your logic, thought, "Ah-ha! It was that Steevenson guy!" only to find out, "What? It was the victim's transexual, one-legged, homosexual bodyguard!? I didn't see that one comming!"?

And you can watch pretty much any Star Trek episode and the Vulcan's logic gets trumped by the Human concept of, "gut".

So, why do atheists put so much stock in logic?

There's no problem with logic. The problem is that either people are being illogical when they think they're being logical or they don't have enough information to make a reasoned choice. I suspect that when you guess the wrong person on CSI, both of those are at work.

 

[Smoke]

Maybe people need a mix of logic and rhetoric. Look how the mix of Captain Kirk (rhetoric) and Mr. Spock (logic) always worked well together. They needed each other so I assume that logic needs rhetoric and rhetoric needs logic. (I hope I haven't confused anyone).

Yeah, you definitely need both. Logic isn't the tool for every job.

 

[Sunstone]

Logic is a great way to check one's hunches. The process by which one arrives at those hunches is seldom logical. But logic remains the best way to check them for veracity.

 

[Alex_G]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

How many times have you watched CSI and, using your logic, thought, "Ah-ha! It was that Steevenson guy!" only to find out, "What? It was the victim's transexual, one-legged, homosexual bodyguard!? I didn't see that one comming!"?

And you can watch pretty much any Star Trek episode and the Vulcan's logic gets trumped by the Human concept of, "gut".

So, why do atheists put so much stock in logic?

Logic is so acclaimed because it has yielded so many results. All the technology in the world from calculators to space expaditions for example. If this were not the case im sure we'd have dumped it years ago

But realistically logic is a wide and complex piece of our conciousness. It can be in many different forms like mathamatical logic, philosophical logic etc, all depending on its rules and what it can be applied to. It can also be subjective to a degree depending on the laws that govern it in the individual (biases etc). Im not sure about the mechanism of how we developed such a thing, nor why it is solely enhanced in humans (i will leave that to another thread), but it does seem to be a mode of prediction based off some kind of stimulous/response or event/consequence learning. Just another step in our social and mental evolution

appologies for the focused posts, i have this 'keenness' for thought in my post exam time (now ) witch seemes to be loitering, so im venting it off here

 

[Somkid]

Well, CSI and Star Trek (even though I am a big fan of both) are FICTION. Faith means believing in something you don't know for sure or trusting something like for example that an airplane can fly you may not know how it works but you have faith that it does.

Logic on the other hand is knowing how and knowing why through empirical evidence.

If we based everything on pure logic nothing would ever get done, you could never fly because you wouldn't know how an airplane worked therefore it would be illogical to get on one and if you did get on one you would have to know logically that it would get from point A to point B safely even with logic you can not be 100% sure so you have to have a little faith or as you said have a "gut feeling".

Logic in the true sense of the academic discipline applies more to math, science and philosophy than it does to real life.

 

[Captain Civic]

I try to follow logic as best I can, and it usually works out. But there's been times (which have becoming more regular) that I've chosen a 'logical' choice over a gut feeling and the 'logical' choice has let me down. It's almost ... illogical.

 

[Fluffy]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

What do you mean by faith?

 

[logician]

Well, CSI and Star Trek (even though I am a big fan of both) are FICTION. Faith means believing in something you don't know for sure or trusting something like for example that an airplane can fly you may not know how it works but you have faith that it does.

Logic on the other hand is knowing how and knowing why through empirical evidence.

If we based everything on pure logic nothing would ever get done, you could never fly because you wouldn't know how an airplane worked therefore it would be illogical to get on one and if you did get on one you would have to know logically that it would get from point A to point B safely even with logic you can not be 100% sure so you have to have a little faith or as you said have a "gut feeling".

Logic in the true sense of the academic discipline applies more to math, science and philosophy than it does to real life.

I disagree, "taking a risk" isn't necessarily illogical.

 

[Fluffy]

I disagree, "taking a risk" isn't necessarily illogical.

Right because logic doesn't apply to risk taking at all. It is meaningless to call taking a risk (or mowing the lawn or flying to the moon) illogical.

I suspect that what is meant is "irrational" which is a totally different kettle of fish.

 

[Somkid]

I disagree, "taking a risk" isn't necessarily illogical.

I agree with that, most people take a risk based on faith not logic. People who jump out of perfectly good airplanes have faith the parachute will open, jumping out of moving vehicle is obviously not logical. People who gamble have some twisted faith in luck or a gut feeling logic says you are going to lose the majority of times.

 

[rojse]

Logic is a great thing to know about.

After doing a precursory examination of the logical field, particularly illogical statements, it is far easier, for example, to understand what is wrong when politicians make political arguments, and how to examine basic logical arguments for inconsistencies.

 

[s2a]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

Nope.

How many times have you watched CSI and, using your logic, thought, "Ah-ha! It was that Steevenson guy!" only to find out, "What? It was the victim's transexual, one-legged, homosexual bodyguard!? I didn't see that one comming!"?

Not many, but then...it's just a TV show (that I do enjoy).

And you can watch pretty much any Star Trek episode and the Vulcan's logic gets trumped by the Human concept of, "gut".

Which, of course, serves as complete validation of emotion over logic.

So, why do atheists put so much stock in logic?

Because logic is unbiased.
Logic has "rules".
Logic is not fickle--nor swayed by personalized "feelings"; anecdotes; or individualized claims of "belief".

Of all people, religionists (or folks that adhere to claims of faith-based beliefs) should be the ones to most readily embrace critical thinking and skepticism. After all, if you're "right" about your beliefs, then all other religious claims should fail any "logical" tests of dispositive "proofs" or "disproofs".

It should present no challenge to any religionist to logically discount/deconstruct/disprove the claims of any other religious/faith-based claim.

"You can't be right in claiming 'X', because deductive reason alone precludes the establishment of any supportively burdened fact/truth..."

Right?

Is that how religion examples logic?

If not, then please illustrate how religion comports with the capacities of human reason, logic, or critical thought.

Does "faith" have anything at all to do with "logic"?

Atheists/skeptics doubt the claims of religion as a result of employed critical thought.

How do "believers" confirm their religious claims within such critical examinations?

By logic, or faith?

 

[sandy whitelinger]

A lot of atheists put their faith in logic, but isn't that a bit... illogical?

How many times have you watched CSI and, using your logic, thought, "Ah-ha! It was that Steevenson guy!" only to find out, "What? It was the victim's transexual, one-legged, homosexual bodyguard!? I didn't see that one comming!"?

And you can watch pretty much any Star Trek episode and the Vulcan's logic gets trumped by the Human concept of, "gut".

So, why do atheists put so much stock in logic?

You are probably confusing logic with reason.

 

[ChristineES]

I still think that we need emotion (or rhetoric) to go along with logic. Computers have logic.