Pirate Logic (sort of)

Last night I was feeling at a bit of a loss as to what to blog about for this class when I happened upon a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean that actually seemed relevant to what we discussed in class.  In the scene, two soldiers humorously argue over whether or not the ship known as “The Black Pearl” really exists.  One professes to have seen the ship, while the other disputes his claim.  Although I am not sticking exactly to the dialogue, the argument looks something like this:

P:  If you have seen The Black Pearl, then you have seen a ship with black sails that is crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that hell itself spit him back out.

P:  You admit you have not seen a ship with black sails that is crewed by the damned etc.

C:  Therefore you have not seen The Black Pearl.

This looks to be a pretty good example of modus tollens and, ridiculous as it may be, it would seem that the soldier makes a good point.   

            

Limits of Logic?

            Yesterday in class we had several interesting discussions regarding both God and eternity.  As a result, I began thinking about the limits of logic and reason in general, and wondering as to whether something should be automatically discarded simply because it does not make logical sense.  For instance, the concept of eternity proved difficult to describe yesterday (as it should), and as a result made Aquinas’ argument hard to analyze.  However I think that attempting to make rational sense of the concept of eternity is, in a sense, to miss the point.  Eternity is a concept that is essentially designed to defy reason.  In fact, it goes against everything that we know and experience about the world.  Eternity is not a long time; it is the absence of time.  And since time is an absolutely essential aspect of how we experience and interpret reality, the idea of “no time” quite literally makes no sense to us.  However, does this mean that it is essentially worthless as a concept?  Or could it still be an important concept that logic is simply incapable of explaining?

If You Disagree, Be Afraid!

I just saw this cartoon (from the Washington Post) in the Berkshire Eagle and immediately thought of Logic class.  Just in case my link doesn't work, I've written the basic dialogue below:

Uncle Sam:  "If you don't do anything bad, you don't have anything to worry about."

Citizen:  "What if I happen to disagree with that premise?"

Uncle Sam:  "That would be something bad."

Any thoughts?