Re: Interpretation
Dave, on host 206.124.3.191
Monday, May 20, 2002, at 18:50:58
Re: Interpretation posted by Sam on Monday, May 20, 2002, at 16:52:16:
> Because the analogy breaks down when you carry >it far enough? Yeah. As with the dictionary >analogy and any analogy about anything, >ultimately there end up being differences, as I >already admitted. I even told you WHERE the >sister analogy stops being useful, and now you >point this out like it's news to me.
You did? Ok then.
Anyway, you ignored where I went with this and the questions I asked in reference to it.
>>If you can't do this, if it boils down to an >>appeal to the unknowable, then again I say you >>have no claim to Truth. > > God is unknowable only in the sense that he's >not *completely* knowable. As with his >creation, one can learn more about him/it all >the time but never complete that knowledge. So >I will substitute "incommunicatable" >for "unknowable," as I think that word better >suits us here, and then let you conclude >whatever the heck you want to from that, because >this discussion ran its course ages ago.
Bah. No it didn't. You just think it did :-P
To me, existence implies knowability. So saying something is unknowable is the same as denying its existence. I cannot concieve of anything that can be proven to exist outside of me that is not also describeable.
"Incommunicatable" *is* different, on the other hand. I know pain exists but I can't describe it except with analogies and metaphor, and that only works when I'm speaking with other people who have experienced pain. So if you claim God is incommunicatable, you can claim that you know he exists but you can't adequetly describe him to me. However, then you tacitly admit that "God" is something within you, a feeling, an emotion, something intangible, something that you can't be sure is known by everybody the same way *you* know it. I can feel pain, but I can't be certain what I know is pain is the same thing you know as pain, even if we both agree we feel this thing called pain. That's where I think your claim to Truth falls apart.
Anyway, since Sam is obviously tired of this, does anybody *else* have an opinion?
-- Dave
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