ext_2941 ([identity profile] ciphergoth.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] ciphergoth 2009-01-06 11:17 pm (UTC)

That these axioms are derived from experience? That's a different meaning to the word "axiom" than I had expected.

I think of an axiom as something like the principle of induction, that you can't begin to prove without circular reasoning, but you absolutely cannot do without if you are to think at all. Another example is the belief that thinking gets you closer to the truth or to more appropriate behaviour. Any attempt to defend that is based on thinking, and so assumes what it's trying to prove. I thought you were advancing C S Lewis's argument that these things follow from the existence of an orderly God and so you can reduce your set of axioms to one.

But if you're deriving it from evidence, you don't need to take it on a priori, you can reason your way there and discuss whether the evidence supports it and such. Is there a third possibility I'm missing?

(BTW I haven't forgotten you're away, no pressure!)

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