Reductio ad absurdum

In The Sound and the Fury, Quentin Compson struggles with the restrictions time places on life. The obsession with time begins when his father, Mr. Compson, pushes his ideologies upon him. With a gift of a watch, Mr. Compson depicts life as a painful fight against time, in which the strongest grit cannot overcome. The father takes away Quentin’s individuality, leaving him to believe time will win against the toughest fighter. Furthermore, Mr. Compson squashes any possible faith or desire Quentin

about how distribution of condoms in schools can lead to teenage promiscuity and encourages sexual activity at an early age. Limbaugh’s use of Reductio ad absurdum counter attacks the opposition’s argument on condom distribution and is effective since it is hard to attack the opposition. Limbaugh attempts to refute his opposition with a reduction ad absurdum argument. He uses rhetoric example intended to demonstrate his belief that condoms distributes and promotes sexual activity. He provides his

The question of the existence of God has troubled mankind for thousands of years. Many philosophers and theologians have always searched for prove whether God exists. Many of them constructed valid arguments which support theist believes. The existence of God was once never denied, as His presence, His existence was evident in miracles and the people 's faith. But time and the advancement of modern science have called God and His very nature into question. The Perfect Being has become the source

what most Philosophers refer to as the ‘perfect island objection’, a version first formally proposed by the 11th-century French monk, Gaunilo, in which he named ‘the Lost Island’ refutation. This objection attempts to use the same form as Anselm’s reductio argument, only with the aim of proving the existence of a perfect island, rather than

of rhetorical devices and satire, John Oliver comically conveys various ideas regarding politics, faulty companies, and beauty pageants. In explanation of his ideas, he frequently utilizes satirical techniques and rhetorical devices such as reductio ad absurdum, incongruity, caricature, invectiveness, false/weak analogies, and logos to explain his points. As John Oliver airs his weekly program, “Last Week Tonight”, he educates viewers on relevant issues, and incorporates factual evidence along with

argument is good, or even valid, but just that given the set of proofs by Aquinas and Anselm, Anselm’s is better. Anselm argues, in effect, that the existence of God is built into the very concept of God. He proceeds by a form of argument called reductio ad absurdum -- reduction to absurdity. He attempts to show that the position of the fool -- the non-believer who has said in his heart, "There is no God" -- is incoherent and leads to absurdity. (Cottingham, 1996: 246) How does

Zhiyuan Li Philosophy 3000 Frankfurt Without Counter-Examples: An Alternative Possibility Harry Frankfurt (1969) argues that the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP): (PAP) a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise (829) is false, because there are cases where a person is morally responsible for what she has done even if she could not have done otherwise (835-6). Call such cases Frankfurt-style cases. A lot of literature thereafter has been

Protagoras is famous for the claim, “Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not (Theaetetus, 152a). This claim is often interpreted as an argument for relativism. The epistemological and moral consequences of relativism are that whatever an individual thinks or believes to be true, is true. For example, what makes an act, such as theft, right or wrong, is not rooted in some objective fact in the world; rather, the rightness

argument. Next I will state the premises and conclusion of his argument in my own words. Then I will identify an objection to premise one and finally I will attempt to articulate a rebuttal to that objection. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Third Way is a reductio ad absurdum argument. The structure of the modal cosmological argument first identifies a certain proposition and then disproves that proposition by showing an absurdity to which it leads when carried to its logical conclusion. St. Thomas uses three terms

against God is Mackie’s argument from evil. The argument against God from evil focuses on disproving God by exposing the contradictions that arise from the image of God held by most theologians and the existence of evil. This argument takes a reductio ad absurdum approach meaning it uses a false or contradictory conclusion to show that a sound argument cannot be derived from the given premises. The beliefs held by most monotheistic religions, which are the foundation of our premises, would be that: