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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (80190)	1/27/2004 12:08:59 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 82486

"Asserting something as proven fact without the ability to supply rational proof might be considered irrational. Asserting a belief when there is no evidence to the contrary is not." A sufficient basis to justify an asserted belief would include the application of reason about reliable data and would thus support the claim to a rational approach. An insufficient reliance on reasonable data or inference would justify an outside judgment of irrationality--that is, if we are to agree to accept a distinction between rational and irrational. For instance, if one claims a rational justification in any one assertion for which no reliable reason applied to objective data may be referenced, then on what basis do not all such assertions deserve to be otherwise qualified? Are there really mice as large as cows living in the center of the earth? Well, there might be. Do I have a reasonable basis for asserting that there ARE? I confess, I do not. Such an assertion would thus be irrational. Of course, I do not conclude it is irrational to think that there might be peculiarities outside of current knowledge. Indeed, I am reasonably convinced by science, mathematics, and history that there are such. But to assert the possible in a general sense is far different from asserting something (purely imaginary) as likely, probable, or reasonable in a specific sense. It is inaccurate and spurious to attribute rationality to the latter.