List: CP 6.490 is in Peirce's initial draft for the additament to "A Neglected Argument," so it must be interpreted in a way that is consistent with his explicit affirmation in that article of the reality of God as *Ens necessarium*, "creator of all three Universes of Experience." That is one reason why I understand his statement, "the three universes must be absolutely necessary results of a state of utter nothingness," as a *reductio ad absurdum*--after all, there is obviously no such thing as an *absolutely necessary *result of a state of *utter nothingness*. As Peirce says in his contemporaneous Logic Notebook entry, cosmology "must suppose something to be in that antecedent state, and this must be that which would Really be in any possible state of things whatever, that is, an *Ens Necessarium*" (R 339:[295r], 1908 Aug 28). Perhaps a case could be made that he changed his mind about this between 1887-8 and 1908, but CP 1.412 does not *contradict* his later writings explicitly affirming the reality of God, so the principle of charity encourages us to harmonize them accordingly.
It is important in formal logic to distinguish validity/invalidity from soundness/unsoundness. A deductive argumentation is *valid *as long as its *form *is such that a true conclusion *would *always be obtained from true premisses. The *modus tollens* inference rule in classical logic is an example--if A then B, not-B, therefore not-A; where the consequent of an if-then proposition (first premiss) is false (second premiss), it follows that the antecedent is also false (conclusion). The fallacy of denying the antecedent happens when we switch the second premiss with the conclusion--if A then B, not-A, therefore not-B; where the antecedent of an if-then proposition (first premiss) is false (second premiss), it *does not* follow that the consequent is also false (conclusion). On the other hand, a valid deductive argumentation is only *sound* as long as its *matter *is such that all its premisses *are *true; so in that sense, *all *deductive argumentations for *anything *whatsoever "rest on a belief in the veracity of the premisses." Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Structural Engineer, Synechist Philosopher, Lutheran Christian www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt / twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 1:34 PM Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> wrote: > List > > I’ll stand by my reading of 1.412 - that the categories emerge from > Nothing. And I don’t equate Nothing with ‘god’ or ‘ens Necessarium. Even > 6.490 says ‘a state of things in which the three universes were completely > nil…the three universes must be absolutely necessary results of a state of > utter nothingness’. As for ‘Ens Necessarium - I’d accept Peirce’s concept > of Pure Mind - which I’d consider as the *state* of the emergence of the > three Categories. > > There is no point in quibbling about the meaning of the terms of ‘false vs > ‘unsound’. As noted, an argument can be logically valid in form but its > premises can be false - and the argument is therefore, in itself, false. > The various arguments for the existence of God [cosmological, ontological, > prime mover, perfection etc].. - rest on a belief in the veracity of the > premises - > > I think your atheist example is an example of Denying the Antecedent. > > But - since both an acceptance of the reality of god and an atheist > rejection of ‘god’ are beliefs and impossible to empirically prove either > way - then, the objection is moot. No point in further discussion..One > doesn’t discuss beliefs ; one merely ‘articulates' them. > > Edwina >
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