In answer to: How do you know you are right?

State a rational counterargument or get lost.

 

What is your counterargument then?

 

You have no specific rational counterargument against my argument, and yet you refuse to accept my argument as true. This is an irrational position to hold.

As this is a rational debate, please stay out of it from here.

 

Lucy's argument is factual, because its true. The purpose of this debate is for those who disagree to attempt to prove it false. I know you will all fail, but we are here all the same.

 

Existence exists. I am human. The sun shines.

Are these theories too?

No. They are facts. The first one is necessarily a fact. It is a fact because it is true, and cannot be argued against without first being accepted as true. Axioms are facts.

I have shown one or more statements which are facts, not theories, thus disproving your argument that 'everything is a theory'.

 

Certainly she does. Firstly the burden of proof is on the claimant. So she doesn't even have to prove he can't exist. You have to front up with the evidence.

Your argument is an argumentum ad ignorantiam (an argument from ignorance. Usually these take the form: "well you can't disprove it".) Such arguments are syllogistic fallacies; they are necessarily invalid.

If they were not invalid I could present any arbitrary statement to you and you'd have to accept it as true despite having no evidence and thus no reason to believe reality is consistent with the statement.

For example, I could state: "The earth is hollow and there's a mini solar system inside it."

If argumentum ad ignorantiam arguments were not invalid you'd have no choice but to accept this fact, despite having no evidence for or against.

Even though rationally we do not need to present a counter case (because you have no evidence to refute to begin with), let us consider the evidence against god.

The premise god is all powerful is a contradiction.

1. If god is all powerful then can god create a rock that god cannot lift?
2. If so then god is not all powerful. If not then god is not all powerful.
3. Therefore god is not all powerful.

Contradictions cannot exist in reality; So either god doesn't exist, or god isn't all powerful. If god is not all powerful, then an element of your religious teaching is necessarily false. Therefore your teachings cannot be infallible.

Given that you religious types do not use reason to determine truth from falsehood (except when your life actually depends on it) how are you to know what elements of your teachings are incorrect and what elements correct?

Not only is the argument for god invalid, god himself is impossible, and your teachings are therefore necessarily invalid (as they all revolve around an all-powerful god.) The premise of god is invalid, therefore all arguments that follow from the premise of god are also invalid.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_noncontradiction

You accepted that an argument that is a contradiction is invalid, when you asked the question. If you thought that a contradictory argument was valid then why would you ask? You would have nothing to challenge, all arguments would be equally valid to you.