your hypothetical is just another in the tedious series of hypotheticals on LessWrong of the form, “Suppose P were true? Then P would be true!”
The hypothetical (P) is used to get people to draw some conclusions from it. These conclusions must,by definition, be logically implied by the original hypothetical or nobody would be able to make them, so you can describe them as being equivalent to P. Thus, all hypotheticals can be described, using your reasoning, as “Suppose P were true? Then P would be true!”
Furthermore, that also means “given Euclid’s premises, the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees” is a type of “Suppose P were true? Then P would be true!”—it begins with a P (Euclid’s premises) and concludes something that is logically equivalent to P.
I suggest that an argument which begins with P and ends with something logically equivalent to P cannot be usefully described as “Suppose P would be true? Then P would be true!” This makes OW’s hypothetical legitimate.
I suggest that an argument which begins with P and ends with something logically equivalent to P cannot be usefully described as “Suppose P would be true? Then P would be true!” This makes OW’s hypothetical legitimate.
The argument has to go some distance. OrphanWilde is simply writing his hypothesis into his conclusion.
His hypothetical is “suppose atheism doesn’t win”. His conclusion is not “then atheism doesn’t win”, so he’s not writing his hypothesis into his conclusion. Rather, his conclusion is “then rationality doesn’t mean what one of your other premises says it means”. That is not saying P and concluding P; it is saying P and concluding something logically equivalent to P.
These conclusions must,by definition, be logically implied by the original hypothetical or nobody would be able to make them, so you can describe them as being equivalent to P.
Of course it’s a misleading description, that’s my point. RK said that OW’s post was “Suppose P would be true? Then P would be true!” His reason for saying that, as far as I could tell, is that the conclusions of the hypothetical were logically implied by the hypothetical. I don’t buy that.
The hypothetical (P) is used to get people to draw some conclusions from it. These conclusions must,by definition, be logically implied by the original hypothetical or nobody would be able to make them, so you can describe them as being equivalent to P. Thus, all hypotheticals can be described, using your reasoning, as “Suppose P were true? Then P would be true!”
Furthermore, that also means “given Euclid’s premises, the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees” is a type of “Suppose P were true? Then P would be true!”—it begins with a P (Euclid’s premises) and concludes something that is logically equivalent to P.
I suggest that an argument which begins with P and ends with something logically equivalent to P cannot be usefully described as “Suppose P would be true? Then P would be true!” This makes OW’s hypothetical legitimate.
The argument has to go some distance. OrphanWilde is simply writing his hypothesis into his conclusion.
His hypothetical is “suppose atheism doesn’t win”. His conclusion is not “then atheism doesn’t win”, so he’s not writing his hypothesis into his conclusion. Rather, his conclusion is “then rationality doesn’t mean what one of your other premises says it means”. That is not saying P and concluding P; it is saying P and concluding something logically equivalent to P.
But that would be a misleading description.
Of course it’s a misleading description, that’s my point. RK said that OW’s post was “Suppose P would be true? Then P would be true!” His reason for saying that, as far as I could tell, is that the conclusions of the hypothetical were logically implied by the hypothetical. I don’t buy that.