Alfredo wrote:Subgenius,
You still don't get the scope of my critique.
because you are moving the goalposts...see your OP.
Yes, it's all about revelation.
....
But, the question is how do we tell a true revelation from a false one without circularly appealing to a revelations which is presumed to be true?
it is not presumed to be true. truth in religion is often found like truth in science...through application.
let me translate it into terms that you may be comfortable with.
If a peer review and replication of conditions yields a consistent result, it is true...but not from a standpoint of statistics or polling 100 persons....that is why it is critical for an individual to experience the scriptures personally, rather than just blindly follow its edicts.
"self-evident" is not a circular fallacy, but when viewed through the prism of simple logic it appears to be a fallacy...but the actual fallacy is using that prism to view the issue in the first place.
- as in of course personal freedom is true because my personal view confirms it...that is an incorrect notion of what "self-evident" means.
You've stated that it is possible for a revelation to be self-evident and therefore, the revelation serves as an acceptable starting point from which to reason fallaciously.
i have stated that revelation is "akin"...only because the concept of revelation seems to be considered as a biochemical mechanism.
The question is not whether a revelation can be self-evident, but how do we tell which are?
the notion of "self-evident" is just that...it is self-evident.
its like asking yourself...how do i know that i am....the asking itself proves it. there is no "tell".
Concerning this question, you do reason fallaciously. You can't appeal to any standard of distinction which doesn't presuppose certain revelations are true and others are not, begging this question.
sure i can....application
The only way to make sense of any revelation is to blindly presuppose only a some are true, for no better reason than any contrary revelation could be presupposed as true.
this is a basic human condition...all of our actions are based on "presuppositions". we always assume something to be true unless significant evidence contradicts that assumption, which is itself good reasoning (as i stated in earlier post).
The chicken always believes the farmer is going to bring food until one day he brings an ax.
and likewise you set your alarm clock every night.......
It's clear that you're reluctant to address the wider scope of the argument.
there is no wider scope...you are using the limitations of logic to discuss a topic that exceeds those limitations. Its like trying to discuss poetry with only a paintbrush.
You know that there's no way to differentiate revelations in a way that meets the Mormon burden of proof if any revelation is in question. You're belief system requires begging the question at every level, including the level at which we determine whether begging the question is valid at all.
balderdash
your fallacy, as stated before is in our concept of "differentiate revelations".