The Haiku of Theology
I attempted to compress a theological argument into four posts on Twitter, within the character limit. Tell me whether the argument holds:
The observation that reality is real, that only symbols reflecting realty can be true or false is accurate. However, this does not address the central argument: why any thought reflects reality?
The human faculty of reason either a tool with an aim (to truthfully reflect reality) or not. If not, reason is aimless, hence untrustworthy. If aimless, reason does not “fail” when irrational, nor “succeed” when rational. Failure and success only apply to tools working or not.
If human reason is aimless, it is untrustworthy for any and all reasoning, including this.
But if human reason is a tool with an innate aim, then the including the faculty of reason in human nature is deliberate. A tool implies a toolmaker. An aim implies an aimer. If our nature is of deliberate design, man was created by an intelligent creator: ergo God.
QED.
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Postscript: Our own Stephen J takes up the challenge of actually penning a haiku of seventeen syllables to carry our syllogism.
If Reason knows Truth,
then Truth is Reason’s Purpose–
If Purpose, then God.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
