Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Twenty

I began this blog with the first post on March 26, 2005, which was twenty years ago today. As milestones go, some might say this one’s kind of big. No doubt, when I first started this blog, I did not expect it to have such a run time. But here we are! It’s been a labor of love and frankly kind of addicting.

As in years past, I like to recap the previous year with links to entries since the last anniversary date: 

530. Incincerating Presuppositionalism: Year Nineteen - March 26, 2024

531. Why are you an atheist? - April 26, 2024

532. Can an atheist have purpose? - May 27, 2024

533. Are you sure there’s no god? - June 30, 2024

534. can science answer the remaining mysteries of the universe? - July 28, 2024

535. Have you ever questioned your atheism? - August 21, 2024

536. Are you completely materialistic in your mindset? - September 28, 2024

537. If you were convinced there was a god, would that be good news? - October 27, 2024

538. What Does AI Have to Say About TAG? - November 30, 2024

539. Does My Atheism Make Me Closed-Minded? - December 27, 2024

540. Imagining Creation - January 27, 2025

541. Miracles and the Primacy of Consciousness - February 23, 2025

In recent years I have not been keeping up with the latest developments in presuppositionalism, simply because my time and focus are devoted to other responsibilities and interests. On those occasions when I do poke around for the latest goings-on, it seems that most of what I find are just stale rehashes of the same talking points. At this point, I cannot even say what I have seen actually amount to arguments as such. Presuppositionalism has in general been deficient in terms of actual arguments and heavy in offensive projection, relentless interrogation and unteachable echo-chambering. Apologetics is not actually about vindicating theism so much as it is to strengthen the believers commitment to his own confessional investment.

We should always remember that the Christian bible does not lay out an epistemology, which can only imply that there is no such thing as a distinctively Christian theory of knowledge. Questions probing how we know things ultimately cannot be answered by applying Christian epistemological principles, because there aren’t any. Apologetic strategies which insist that non-believers answer a series of “How do you know?” questions are inherently fraudulent to the extent that they imply the pretense to there being a means of knowing available to believers owing to the mere fact that they are professing believers.

Presuppositionalists focus their debate ploys on topics such as the necessary preconditions of knowledge, the justification of inductive reasoning, the foundations of morality, and the like. No doubt these are vitally important areas of philosophical inquiry. But they will never be settled by appealing to a worldview which ignores the fundamental distinction between the real and the imaginary. Genuine knowledge has its basis in facts, not in fantasy. The biblical worldview immerses the mind of the believer in a make-believe psychology and emboldens the believer to pretend that he knows things that he in fact does not know. It is on the basis of this delusion that he challenges non-believers to answer stock questions on the believer’s own terms, terms which evaporate immediately once it is pointed out that the imaginary is not real.

Their interrogations are answerable, and yet their own worldview cannot provide objective answers to their own interrogations. What are the necessary preconditions of knowledge? These are identified explicitly by the axioms of existence, consciousness and identity. Yet their own worldview wipes these fundamental truths off the table. How can inductive reasoning be justified? This is answered by the objective theory of concepts, yet their own worldview has no theory of concepts to begin with, not even a bad one. What is the basis of morality? This is the primacy of existence, yet their own worldview denies the primacy of existence by affirming a universe where wishing makes it so. Where did the universe come from? It came from existence, yet their worldview holds that existence is the product of divine fantasizing, something we never observe in reality, but nevertheless virtually anyone can imagine it.

As for the future of this blog, while part of me thinks that my work here is done (maybe overdone?), I am not committed to closing it all down for good. I reserve the prerogative to publish future entries as I see fit. But I may not be keeping even the meager pace I’ve had over the past several years going forward. While this has been a wonderful learning experience for me and it has allowed me to interact with many very intelligent people over the years from all walks of life, trying to find time to work on the next entry has become a bit of a chore for me given the wide variety of competing demands on my time. Moreover, as Bukowski would have said, it’s taken on a repeat, which I find unsettling. One reader commented some months ago that he rarely has time to read. That’s a sad statement, but it is every bit as true for me as well. My work and family life are breathtakingly busy, albeit highly rewarding in fact, and frankly I’m astounded that I’ve been able to keep this blog going as long as I have.

I would love to hear from readers on what they think I may have missed, overlooked or failed to address over the years, if just to see what anyone who may have followed my work might say on this front. That’s not a commitment to dive in and take on some new area of research, but I am curious and maybe other readers will be able to point to other sources that have attended those areas.

As always, thanks to everyone who reads, and special thanks to all who have taken time out of their lives to post their thoughts in the comments.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Nineteen

It is that time once again to celebrate yet another year of this blog!

Today Incinerating Presuppositionalism turns 19! The better part of two decades is almost complete! And boy, time sure does fly when you’re having fun!

As I do each year rather unceremoniously, I list out all entries posted since the previous anniversary, and this entry will itself be accessible in the blog sidebar.

516. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Eighteen - March 26, 2023

517. TASC: The Transcendental Argument for Square-Circles - April 1, 2023

518. Bahnsen’s Poof Revisited… Again - May 29, 2023

519. Frank Turek vs. the Laws of Nature - June 25, 2023

520. ”What are the odds…?” - July 30, 2023

521. Do the Senses “Distort”? - August 27, 2023

522. Jason Lisle on Sensory Experience and Epistemology - September 25, 2023

523. Vistor Questions on Jeff Durbin and Formal Debates with Apologists - October 23, 2023

524. Anderson’s Anti-Epistemological Argument Against Naturalism - November 1, 2023

525. Bahnsen’s “tremendous philosophical mistake” - December 27, 2023

526. Answering Objections to my ‘Horse’s Mouth’ Collection - January 3, 2024

527. Concepts and Induction - February 3, 2024

528. Is the Axiom of Existence “Ambiguous”? A Reply to Eli Ayala - March 3, 2024

529. Peikoff on the Invulnerability of the Axioms - March 6, 2024

As always, I want to express my gratitude to anyone who takes the time to read anything I post, and especially to those who take the time to post their own reactions in the comments. I read every comment and when I can, I do try to make time to reply.

I do have a number of entries currently in the draft stage – it will take some time to get them ready to post. The work never stops! In the meantime, if readers encounter new variants of theistic defenses that they’d like to share, you’re welcome to make use of the comments.

With that, we set off on our journey to a major new milestone!

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Eighteen

As usual on IP, I mark the anniversary of this blog (first entry posted on March 26, 2005) with an entry listing the posts which I published over the previous year, beginning with a link to the previous year’s anniversary post. Whether readers find this valuable or not, it does help me in a variety of ways, especially since navigating a blog looking for that one item that I know is there, is not always very easy. It also gives me some added sense of accomplishment. 

Since this time last year, here are the entries I posted on this blog: 

503. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Seventeen - March 26, 2022

504. Some Thoughts in Response to Anderson’s Argument on Propositions - April 28, 2022

505. Apparently I don’t have the right… - May 21, 2022

506. Same Old Song and Dance: Anderson on Induction… again - June 26, 2022

507. Stovetop Realizations - July 28, 2022

508. TAG and the Appeal to Magic - August 28, 2022

509. Why Do Apologists Raise the Problem of Induction in Debate? - September 25, 2022

510. Is Creation Possible? - October 11, 2022

511. Evolution and the Persistence of Religion - November 25, 2022

512. On the Kalam Cosmological Argument - December 24, 2022

513. Buried Signposts - January 16, 2023

514. Epistemology or Methodological Amnesia? - February 21, 2023

515. TAG in Two Steps - March 5, 2023

As always, a special thanks to anyone who bothers taking the time to read anything I post here, and even bigger thanks to those who trouble themselves to post a comment. I do read all comments, though I do not always have time to reply. But as far as comments go, they are always intelligent and bring additional value to my blog. So I am grateful for that.

I do not know how much longer I can maintain this blog, though I have no intention of stopping. Writing and editing take time and sustained focus, and I do try to provide something that readers will find valuable. My blog is not an advertisement for books, nor is there a paywall to the “real content” beyond some teaser. There are no ads and I don’t even ask for donations (and hope I never need to); there’s no link to Paypal or Subscribestar where I ask for coffee money. I will buy my own coffee as long as I can. We are always being hit with messaging urging us to “give back” to “the community.” Consider my writings my way of doing this. Those who muscle through an entry or two might find that this is a way that I can provide more impactful and lasting value than volunteering an afternoon at the local high school car wash, scrubbing graffiti off a parking structure or picking up trash along the interstate.

With that, we embark now on Year Nineteen.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Seventeen

The years keep rolling by, and the past one is no different – at least so far as “the passage of time” is concerned. This blog started on March 26, 2005 with its initial installment, and seventeen years later here it is, still chugging along! At this point, it’s quite a collection – more than I ever expected it would be when I first set out. I suppose that if anyone out there ever encounters presuppositionalism and needs a go-to source for a second opinion, this little corner in the internet might provide a few insights.

As I do for every anniversary of my blog, I dedicate a post listing all the entries I’ve posted over the past year starting with the previous anniversary post. The link to the new anniversary post is then added to the handy Blog Chronology in a panel on the right-hand side of my blog, so it’s always at your fingertips!

So, without any further ado, here is this year’s list:

491. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Sixteen - March 26, 2021

492 ”Faith in the reasoning process” - April 28, 2021

493. Answering the Epistemologist - May 21, 2021

494. Anderson versus Materialism, Part II: The Problem of Personal Identity over Time - June 24, 2021

495. Gotquestions.org’s Article on TAG - July 21, 2021

496. David Wood, Star Trek, and the Inevitable Persistence of Religion - August 28, 2021

497. Christianity and Socialism - September 28, 2021

498. ”He walked among us” - October 25, 2021

499. The Specter of Antithesis - November 24, 2021

500. Preliminary Thoughts on Van Til’s “Argument from Unity of Knowledge” - December 29, 2021

501. An Examination of Van Til’s “Argument from the Unity of Knowledge” - January 6, 2022

502. An Examination of Van Til’s “Argument from the Uniformity of Nature” - February 22, 2022

Over the past year, I posted my 500th blog entry (special thanks to Jason mc for helping me to figure that out!). While that may not seem like a major milestone when compared to some blogs, keep in mind this blog is dedicated to a fairly narrow range of topics, most entries are full-length explorations of the topics they address, and I’m not a very fast worker (at least not so far as writing for this blog is concerned). I have a fairly arduous work schedule and my family gets most of what’s left over after that.

Over the next few months, while I have some entries in the planning process, it’s going to be a demanding task to keep up even with my current single-entry-per-month posting rate as I’m in the process now of selling my house and preparing for a move across the country. Plus, I expect work to be very busy this summer as a few new projects are lining up. But I’m up for the challenge, so don’t be surprised if I manage to keep up with my already meager pace!

Thanks to everyone who stops by and reads what I have to say! And for those who even take the time to provide feedback or just post a comment about whatever, thank you even more! I very much appreciate the dialogue.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Sixteen

It’s that time of year again when we all get to sing a round of “Happy Birthday” for Incinerating Presuppositionalism. At sixteen years of age, this blog is eligible for a drivers license… at least in some states. Just don’t cause an accident!

If my goal is to go a full twenty, I’d say I’m on my way. And for those of you who actually read any of my entries, you have my enduring gratitude! Even more so if you comment! You know who you are. (Yes, I do read your comments.)

As I always do on my blog’s birthday, I list out the entries I posted over the previous year. Then this entry itself goes up in the sidebar section named Blog Chronology. This navigation section used to be really helpful for me – for I had always had it in my mind when I had posted a certain entry I was looking for, and this made it easy to find. But nowadays, I have to stop and think “Was that in Year Seven, or Year Nine? Hmmm…. Let me see….” And then I fumble around until I realize it was in Year Four! My blog is more faithful than my own memory sometimes. But I still think these anniversary pages serve a good purpose, so here goes:

478. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Fifteen - March 26, 2020

479. WSIBC: “God and Mind” - April 22, 2020

480. WSIBC: “God and Science” - May 18, 2020

481. WSIBC: Presup Enters Rehab - May 26, 2020

482. Reader Email Backlog - June 28, 2020

483. WSIBC Jump Page - July 28, 2020

484. My Refutation of STB: Ten Years On - August 27, 2020

485. Presuppositionalism and Induction - September 28, 2020

486. Presuppositionalism and Induction: Apologists Courting Hume - October 25, 2020

487. Presuppositionalism and Induction: Exhuming Hume - November 28, 2020

488. Presuppositionalism and Induction: The Humean Condition - December 30, 2020

489. Presuppositionalism and Induction: Thoughts on the Uniformity of Nature - January 28, 2021

490. Anderson versus Materialism - February 25, 2021

In November 2019 – back in Year Fifteen, I had posted the initial entry of my multi-post series examining James Anderson’s book “Why Should I Believe Christianity?” I did not complete this within the period covered in Year Fifteen, nor was that really my intention. But I did complete it in Year Sixteen – I even posted a jump page for this series, probably the longest on my entire blog. So readers can go there and access every installment, if they so choose. I am pleased with this work and provide it as evidence to support my contention that, if apologists think they can vindicate the Christian worldview, they need to take a different path. Judging by the view count of several of the installments, I’m guessing that some readers may think similarly.

In the latter months of Year Sixteen, I began a loose series discussing various aspects of induction and how this amazing cognitive ability relates to presuppositional apologetics. Apologists following Greg Bahnsen and his fellow-travelers have taken Bahnsen’s assertions about induction at face value in a most unself-conscious manner. I admit that I find it gratifying to point this out. Even more intellectually fulfilling is pointing to the conceptual basis of induction as the source answering Hume’s canard. I’ve often noted that Objectivism has the answers apologists wish they could call their own, but cannot, given their allegiance to the primacy of consciousness metaphysics. Since induction is a special interest of mine, I may revisit related issues and continue that series at some point.

My work has involved me in numerous engaging projects over the past several months, some which are more complicated than first supposed, and some with looming deadlines. So while I intend to keep some activity going here on IP, I’m afraid I cannot promise twelve entries per day. Most recently I interacted with the first of several objections which James Anderson has raised against materialism. I have received some positive feedback on that and am encouraged to explore more of Anderson’s objections in future posts. Let’s see what that might raise to surface!

So here’s to another year of Incinerating Presuppositionalism!

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Fifteen

We reach yet another milestone as this blog turns Fifteen! That’s like a hundred years in blogdom. It’s as though I were fifteen years younger when I started my blog… Indeed, I was! See how that works?

So I’d say it’s something to be proud of, and I am proud of it! It’s been a real labor of love for a significant portion of my life, and it’s something I hope to continue doing. Of course, as always, time is a factor, and so many things are competing for my attention.

I’m also thankful for all who have read my scribblings and have contributed comments over the years as well. I really do appreciate that. Not only did you read something from my hand, you also took the time to post some thoughts in reaction, and that only adds to the excitement.

Here are the blog entries for the past year, starting with the previous anniversary post:

460. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Fourteen - March 26, 2019

461 Wilson’s Fixation on Fizzing - April 28, 2019

462. More on Wilson’s Fizzing about Fizzing - May 27, 2019

463. Does Objectivism Deny the Reality of Change? - June 26, 2019

464. The Agony of Agnosticism, or: Why Not Mature Thoughtfulness? - July 28, 2019

465. Pardon My Skepticism… - August 14, 2019

466. Shrugging off Mysticism - September 26, 2019

467. Hallomeanie! - October 31, 2019

468. ”He is found in our hearts” - November 8, 2019

469. Initial Questions for Anderson’s “Why Should I Believe Christianity” - November 22, 2019

470. Preliminary Worldview Considerations before Anderson’s WSIBC - November 27, 2019

471. WSIBC: “Competing Worldviews” - December 1, 2019

472. WSIBC: Divine Voices and Failed Arguments - December 27, 2019

473. WSIBC: “God and Existence” – Part 1: “The Question” - January 22, 2020

474. WSIBC: “God and Existence” – Part 2: Contingency Desperation - February 2, 2020

475. WSIBC: “God and Values” - February 17, 2020

476. WSIBC: “God and Morality” - March 8, 2020

477. WSIBC: “God and Reason” - March 15, 2020

Now I’ve never made much of an effort in the past to track page views or visits data on my blog. In that way, I’m not much of marketer of my site. It’s never been very important to me. But as I was reviewing other traffic data (apparently someone in Turkmenistan likes to visit my blog… who knew?), I did notice that my post Wilson’s Fixation on Fizzing from this past year has had a huge number of page views. So I looked back and found that this entry is likely already in the top five of most-visited posts since the inception of Incinerating Presuppositionalism in 2005. Amazingly, it’s not too far off from two of the most-viewed entries on my blog, which is A Critique of Sye Ten Bruggencate’s www.proofthatgodexists.org (published in August 2010) and A Proof that the Christian God Does Not Exist (published in July 2011). Apparently there are readers out there interested in how to interact with Doug Wilson’s caricature. Hopefully they’ve found my remarks helpful – after all, at this time there are only two comments posted to that entry.

I am still working my way through James Anderson’s book Why Should I Believe Christianity? and I hope to have another installment up in that series early next month. I’ve been really enjoying that!

Times are very strange now, as everyone knows. Stay safe and keep your head straight! We will get through this.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Fourteen

And now we come to yet another milestone for this blog, Incinerating Presuppositionalism, as we reach the 14th anniversary since its inception. As I always do on IP’s birthday, I have listed the entries that I published over the past year below. All for your convenience, my dear readers!

I mentioned last year that I have numerous, mounting constraints on my time and energy, thus limited the forces that I can bring to blogging. We all have only 24 hours in a day, and with a demanding career in coordinating covert halo drops over doily-refurbishing plants in far away countries while trying to keep up with the exhausting schedule of a gymnastics-loving tween, I’m sure you can appreciate I’m one busy dude.

But don’t let that for a moment give you the impression that a dent has been made in my passion for writing and contra-apologetics. This is my version of a blood sport, and it’s every bit as brutal as anything that you’ll see on the gridiron or 1950s gladiator movies. At the very minimum, it requires a willingness to enter the ring and hone a wide range of intellectual skills. That’s one of the prime draws for me in maintaining IP: like composing a six-voice fugue or untangling a knotted slinky, it takes great patience, focus and discipline. And who couldn’t use a little more of either of these? I know I can!

At any rate, here’s the list of entries I crafted over the past year, all in one handy source in case you’ve missed any of them:

447. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Thirteen - March 26, 2018

448. Existence and Perception - April 28, 2018

449. Edward Feser on Ayn Rand - May 27, 2018

450. The Futility of Theodicy - June 28, 2018

451. The Disgruntled Apologist - July 28, 2018

452. The Burden of Proof - August 29, 2018

453. Parsing the Haysian Square-Circle - September 26, 2018

454. Is Human life really “futile” without a god? - October 29, 2018

455. Faith and Imagining - November 26, 2018

456. Are the Gospel Crucifixion Scenes Eyewitness Accounts? - December 16, 2018

457. The Metaphysics of Wishing - January 5, 2019

458. Steve Hays’ Invisible Friend - February 20, 2019

459. The Speeches in Acts: History or Legend? - March 10, 2019

From the standpoint of specifically Christian apologetics, I’d say that the most damning post in this past year’s batch of entries is probably December 2018’s Are the Gospel Crucifixion Scenes Eyewitness Accounts? But I must say, I’m quite satisfied with the rest as well. So, go figure!

Now, while I do have a backlog of entries in various stages of progress, I am open to taking “requests” if readers encounter arguments or topics that I haven’t addressed already. Of course, they should be relevant to apologetics, but not necessarily presuppositionalism specifically. That said, this does not necessarily mean that I’ll take the request. No request can so easily be expected to translate into a guarantee. But don’t let that discourage you if you think you have some good suggestions.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Thirteen

Again we now come to another anniversary of this blog’s inception, marking a full 13 years since its inaugural post in March 2005. While I’d think by now I’d have become accustomed to the increasing rapidity with which the days, months, years and hours of my life pass, I’m still amazed at where all my time goes. For time is life, and life is all.

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Twelve

We come now to that time of every year in which I honor the blog entries of the past year with a post listing each one out, beginning with last year’s anniversary posting.

Now, readers of my blog (all two of them!) have probably noticed that my posting activity has been slowing down over the past couple of years.

There are several reasons for this.

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Eleven

The years are rolling by quickly, which means that the content on my blog continues to grow!

As is my “tradition” here at IP, each year on my blog’s birthday (the first entry being posted on March 26, 2005), I am posting the list of blog entries that I have published since the last anniversary of my blog, a year ago today. This entry will be placed in line with all the previous anniversary entries on the sidebar of my blog’s main landing page, for convenient reference.

Last year I reached the 400th blog entry, which may not seem like a huge number given the 10 years that those entries span. But keep in mind two points: one, I do not have a “staff” which performs admin duties on my behalf and adds filler posts here and there just for the heck of it – I’m all by my little lonesome here, jealously keeping all the fun to myself; two, the vast majority of my blog entries, as readers should already know, are fairly sizeable (recall all the complaints that my blog entries are “verbose” and “longwinded”) as I typically do more than just touch the surface of the matters that tackle.

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Ten

Yes, folks, my blog Incinerating Presuppositionalism is turning TEN YEARS OLD today! That’s right, ten years ago today I posted the first entry on this blog, and I’m pleased to report that it’s been going strong ever since.

Swashbuckling away at Christianity’s defenses, exposing their fallacies and untruths, bringing to light their gimmicks and refuting their arguments… all this has been a most delightful undertaking for me these past years. It has brought me a most unique pleasure that must be experienced firsthand in order to be fully understood, and enjoyed. It is a gift that I give to myself first and foremost.

The past year has been very busy for me, given a very demanding work schedule, but I have managed to be productive even on my beloved blog. Not only have I reached the tenth anniversary mark for my blog, but also my 400th blog entry. This may not seem like a lot for ten years, but bear in mind that my blog does not have a “staff” of writers churning out trite posts about where to buy the best scones or how the weather affected the turnout at last Tuesday’s game. Rather, it’s just me writing here, and as any reader knows my blog entries are often many pages long and full of ample doses of research. It really is a labor of love.

This is not to detract from those readers and visitors who post comments. Really, the comments are what make it really interesting here at IP, and there is a loyal core who have been at the forefront of the commenting activity. So to you all (you know who you are), I tip my hat in gratitude! I’m sorry every time you have to wait for me to get around to publishing your comments, but those who have been reading my blog for the past couple years know why I was reluctantly pressed to turning on the moderating procedure, something I still don’t really care for myself.

So what happened this past year? Well, quite a bit now that I look back on it all. Over the past year I’ve interacted with a few apologists for the first time, some presuppositionalist in their bent, others more traditional. And this year I did finally get around to examining arguments by William Lane Craig. Some readers have emailed me here and there over the years asking for my take on WLC’s arguments and debates. Hopefully I have satisfied such curiosity.

To my own surprise, this year saw fifty new blog entries. Here they are:

352. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Nine - March 26, 2014

 

353. On the Claim to Have Experienced “the Supernatural” - April 13, 2014

354. A Reply to Dave McPhillips on Bahnsen’s Treatment of the Problem of Evil - April 21, 2014

355. Presuppositionalism, Circular Argument, and Oliphant’s Defense - April 28, 2014

356. Is the Concept of Evidence Itself Evidence that God Exists? - May 5, 2014

357. Fumbling at the First Down - May 6, 2014

358. How Bahnsen Gives Away the Farm in His Debate with Gordon Stein - May 10, 2014

359. Shining a Bright Light into Dave’s Dark Cave - May 17, 2014

360. Dawson’s Razor - June 1, 2014

361. Dave’s McPresuppositions, Part I - June 7, 2014

362. Dave’s McPresuppositions, Part II - June 9, 2014

363. Dave’s McPresuppositions, Part III - June 10, 2014

364. Dave’s McPresuppositions, Part VI - June 11, 2014

365. Dave’s McPresuppositions, Part V - June 12, 2014

366. A Response to Christian James - June 17, 2014

367. Does Religion Dull One’s Ability to Distinguish between Fact and Fantasy? - July 28, 2014

368. STB: Four Years and Counting - August 27, 2014

369. What Alternative Do “Apostates” Have after Leaving Christianity? - September 13, 2014

370. Deriving “Ought” from Dirt - October 4, 2014

371. ”Atheism Can’t Ground Objective Morality”? - October 9, 2014

372. Petersen’s Failed Attempts to Refute Leonard Peikoff: Preamble - October 11, 2014

373. Petersen’s Failed Attempts to Refute Leonard Peikoff: Objection 1 - October 12, 2014

374. Petersen’s Failed Attempts to Refute Leonard Peikoff: Objection 2 - October 13, 2014

375. Petersen’s Failed Attempts to Refute Leonard Peikoff: Objection 3 - October 14, 2014

376. Petersen’s Failed Attempts to Refute Leonard Peikoff: Objection 4 and Conclusion - October 15, 2014

377. “Christian Epistemology”: The Blind Leading the Blind - October 16, 2014

378. Jason Petersen's Abysmal Ignorance of Concepts - October 17, 2014

379. Jason Petersen’s “Epistemology” -October 21 , 2014

380. Presuppositionalism, Atheism, and Confusion over the Primacy of Existence - October 23, 2014

381. The Primacy of Existence vs. the Prior Certainty of Consciousness - October 29, 2014

382. Jason Petersen on the Fallacy of Pure Self-Reference - November 1, 2014

383. Glossary of Terms - December 10, 2014

384. Jason Petersen on Objectivism and the Laws of Logic - December 25, 2014

385. Fringe Outliers or Pioneering Trailblazers? - January 3, 2015

386. Petersen vs. the Universe - January 10, 2015

387. Lennox’s 10, Part I - January 31, 2015

388. Lennox’s 10, Part II - February 12, 2015

389. Lennox’s 10, Part III - February 13, 2015

390. Lennox’s 10, Part IV - February 21, 2015

391. Lennox’s 10, Part V - February 28, 2015

392. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part I: Introduction - March 8, 2015

393. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part II: “God is the best explanation why anything at all exists” - March 9, 2015

394. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part III: “God is the best explanation for the origin of the universe” - March 10, 2015

395. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part IV: “God is the best explanation of the applicability of mathematics to the physical world” - March 11, 2015

396. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part V: “God is the best explanation of the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life” - March 13, 2015

397. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part VI: “God is the best explanation of intentional states of consciousness” - March 15, 2015

398. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part VII: “God is the best explanation of objective moral values and duties” - March 17, 2015

399. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part VIII: “The very possibility of God’s existence implies that God exists” - March 21, 2015

400. Craig’s Eight Arguments for God, Part IX: “God can be personally known and experienced” - March 22, 2015

401. The Ending of the Gospel of Mark - March 24, 2015

As for moving forward, I have a lot of new ideas and planned blog entries, but I am going through a transition as well. I moved to Thailand back in May of 2011, and my work here is now finished. Soon I will be relocating back to the United States to start my next chapter in life. And while this has been a great growing experience, I do not know how long it will take me to resettle my life and devote my energies to writing for my blog. Given the many demands on my time, I’m a slow worker. But keep your eyes peeled. Maybe I’ll surprise you!

In the meantime, keep pursuing your values and hone your reasoning skills.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Nine

Today is the ninth anniversary of Incinerating Presuppositionalism! Yes, that’s right – on March 26, 2005, I posted my first entry on this blog. So as I do on every birthday my blog has, I am posting the list of entries that I published over the previous year, since the last birthday.

This past year has seen a huge amount of activity. Yes, I’ve been quite busy with my blog, especially over the past six months. Somehow, in spite of my hectic schedule of a full workload, raising my daughter, dodging six-foot long reptiles, etc., I’ve managed to find time to continue arguing for my verdicts and telling the world what I’ve learned.

So without any further ado, here’s this year’s list in continued enumeration:

302. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Eight - March 26, 2013

303. On the Validity of the Senses - April 3, 2013

304. A Lesson on Presuppositional Gimmickry - April 4, 2013

305. Dear Apologist: Can You Demonstrate that You’re the Real McCoy? - April 15, 2013

306. Some Thoughts on Pope Francis’ Recent Condemnation of Capitalism - May 15, 2013

307. Klouda-ing the Issue - June 21, 2013

308. TAG Defeated in One Fell Swoop - June 26, 2013

309. John Frame’s Empty-Handed Epistemology - July 25, 2013

310. Sye Ten Bruggencate vs. the Absolute Laws of Logic - July 27, 2013

311. Presuppositionalist Pseudolosophy - August 21, 2013

312. Hodge’s Hedgings - August 24, 2013

313. STB: Three Years and Counting - August 27, 2013

314. Subjectivism in Hodge’s View of Reality and Knowledge - August 29, 2013

315. My August Comments to B.C. Hodge - September 29, 2013

316. The Primacy of the Inner over the Outer - October 17, 2013

317. Mike Licona Says: “I want it to be true” - October 22, 2013

318. Behold How the Holy Ones Speak - October 24, 2013

319. Reason vs. Faith - October 26, 2013

320. Twerking for Jesus - October 31, 2013

321. An Examination of the Ontological Argument - November 2, 2013

322. The Moral Code of Life - November 6, 2013

323. A Reply to Stefan on Induction and Deduction - November 13, 2013

324. For Jonathan - November 14, 2013

325. Examining Stefan’s Presuppositionalism - November 16, 2013

326. Rick Warden’s Ill-Fated Effort to Refute My Argument from Metaphysical Primacy - November 25, 2013

327. Three Steps Proving that Theism Cannot Be True - December 25, 2013

328. The Vindication of My Argument Against Theism from Rick Warden's Ill-fated Maneuvers - December 29, 2013

329. Warden’s “Addenda” regarding the Nature of Truth - January 2, 2014

330. Spinning Out of Orbit: Rick Warden Lost in the Outer Limits - January 4, 2014

331. Warden’s Persisting Failure to Integrate - January 15, 2014

332. A Reply to Matthias on Imagination and Its Role in Theism - January 19, 2014

333. A Reply to Matthias on Philosophical Starting Points - January 22, 2014

334. A Reply to Matthias on Holy Inference vs. Reason: How Do We Know What’s Inside the Box? - January 23, 2014

335. A Reply to Matthias on Objective Knowledge vs. the Subjectivism of Theism - January 28, 2014

336. A Reply to Matthias on “Analogous Knowledge” - January 30, 2014

337. A Reply to Matthias on Subjectivism and the Believer - February 2, 2014

338. At a Loss for Words: Rick Warden’s Latest Comment - February 14, 2014

339. The Futility of the Apologetic Appeal to “Revelation” - February 18, 2014

340. The Moral Implications of Belief in an Afterlife - February 23, 2014

341. Is Jason Lisle Epistemologically Self-Conscious? - March 2, 2014

342. Vince’s Three Unpublished Comments to Rick Warden’s Blog - March 7, 2014

343. Answering Jason Lisle on the Reliability of the Senses - March 8, 2014

344. Jason Lisle on Logic - March 9, 2014

345. On Romans 1:20-21 - March 10, 2014

346. Jason Lisle on Axioms - March 14, 2014

347. I Reject Christianity Because It’s Not True, Part I - March 18, 2014

348. I Reject Christianity Because It’s Not True, Part II - March 19, 2014

349. I Reject Christianity Because It’s Not True, Part III - March 21, 2014

350. I Reject Christianity Because It’s Not True, Part IV - March 23, 2014

351. A Logical God? - March 24, 2014

As you will see, Year Nine covered a lot of ground! As has been in the past, nothing has changed – I still have lots more in store for IP in the coming weeks, months and years.

So stay tuned, but try to be patient as I’m quite busy these days. At this time, I am relocating to a new condo in central Bangkok, so over the next few weeks I will be quite busy. Then I will need to adjust to new surroundings, which will be crowded with people instead of reptiles and other creeping things. I won’t miss the four-, six- and eight-legged critters (at all!), but living in a very densely populated part of an enormous city will take some getting used to. Well, it’s all part of the adventure of life!

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Eight

Today is March 26, 2013, which means: Incinerating Presuppositionalism is another year older! So I invite everyone to join me in singing “Happy Birthday!” to my blog!

While I am delighted to see that IP is still going strong, I cannot say that I’m exactly “surprised” that it is. When I started this blog back in 2005, I had every intention of sticking with it and developing my critiques against presuppositionalism in particular and Christian apologetics in general as long as I could go. I have not set any kind of sunset date for IP, but in the last couple years I have not been able to keep my focus on my writing for IP at the top of my list of priorities. Many responsibilities compete for my time and energy, but my passion for what I do here has not waned at all.

As I have done since the first anniversary of my blog, here is a listing of the entries I published over the past year:

276. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Seven - March 26, 2012

277. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part I: Intro and the Nature of Truth - April 7, 2012

278. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part II: The Nature of Logic - April 8, 2012

279. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part IIIa: The Uniformity of Nature - April 12, 2012

280. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part IIIb: The Problem of Induction - April 15, 2012

281. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part IVa: Objective Morality - May 12, 2012

282. Answering Dustin Segers’ Presuppositionalism, Part IVb: Collectivism, Evil and Slavery - May 19, 2012

283. Greg Bahnsen on the Problem of Evil - May 21, 2012

284. Christian Anti-Morality: A Response to Nide - May 22, 2012

285. In Shambles: Nide's Crumbling Worldview - May 23, 2012

286. Presuppositionalism’s Finest? - May 24, 2012

287. Craig Keener on Miracles - June 17, 2012

288. Chris Bolt vs. the Evils of Demanding Evidence in Support of Truth Claims - July 22, 2012

289. Is Anyone Truly a Christian? - August 4, 2012

290. STB: Two Years and Counting - August 27, 2012

291. Answers to “50 Important Philosophical Questions” - September 15, 2012

292. Christianity vs. Happiness - October 8, 2012

293. Hell is for Believers - October 11, 2012

294. Is Math Christian? - October 18, 2012

295. My Discussion with Michael Rawlings - November 16, 2012

296. Michael David Rawlings and the Primacy of a Bad Attitude - December 9, 2012

297. Rawlings' Bawlings - January 3, 2013

298. Prayson Daniel vs. the Imaginative Nature of Christian Theism - January 29, 2013

299. Debate between Objectivist Andrew Bernstein and Dinesh D’Souza Now on YouTube - February 18, 2013

300. A Case in Point, Part I - March 5, 2013

301. A Case in Point, Part II - March 13, 2013

Year Eight saw some wonderful additions to my growing list of body-blows against the Christian worldview. I began the new season with a six-part series providing a comprehensive answer to Christian apologist Dustin Segers’ presuppositionalist apologetic. So far as I have seen, Segers has never acknowledged or replied to my interaction with his list of questions for atheists. In fact, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the guy anywhere on the internet, nothing new from him anyway, since I posted my responses to him back in April and May last year. Perhaps he’s been busy with other things. Maybe he’s focusing his efforts on “street preaching,” preferring to bamboozle passersby minding their own business and having other things on their minds, and not having the time or resources to examine what he preaches at them carefully. Who knows. Until we hear from Segers, it appears he’s been put to rest.

Back in May last year, we saw everyone’s favorite court jester “Nide” – now affectionately known as Nidiot – make a couple appearances on the Fundamentally Flawed podcast circuit. I must say that never prior to this time had I felt so embarrassed for another human being. Then again, perhaps I’m in error for indulging Nidiot’s delusion of being human. Regardless, there’s some real entertainment value to enjoyed there.

To might delight, much of the juicy stuff from the past year can be found in the comments of several of my blog entries. So I offer my gratitude to those readers who contributed to the discussion.

In early November last year, a Christian apologist by the name of Michael David Rawlings initiated a discussion which escalated into repeated hysterical meltdowns publicly suffered by a believer the likes of which I have never witnessed before. This of course encouraged Nidiot to up the ante on his own obnoxiousness as he gave himself up for adoption to the swashbuckling Rawlings. The fireworks can be enjoyed in the comments of entries 294, 295, 296 and 297.

Unfortunately, because of the horrendous abuse of my blog by these two self-effacing characters, one difficult decision that I had to make during Year Eight was to turn on comment moderation. I tolerated Nidiot for roughly a year and half; I allowed him to post his comments at will on my blog, and readers were free to respond. Most of his comments were one-liners that proved over and over again that he had no original substance whatsoever to share, but at least his participation did offer some entertainment value. An unwitting court jester, Nidiot was clearly unaware of the degrees to which he could embarrass himself. But Rawlings was a different matter. Rawlings would post sizable comments, sometimes several in a row, and even though his comments would be answered, either by myself or by others, or as in many cases by both myself and others, he would simply repost previously submitted (and previously rebutted) comments as if they still needed answering or as though they raised some new point that no one had yet considered. It was clear that Rawlings was not interested in a mature, honest discussion, and his unrelenting abuse required me to take action.

While I am still holding out hope that I can eventually turn off comment moderation, I’m glad to say that turning it on has not brought the discussions on my blog to a halt. Interest in my Proof that the Christian God Does Not Exist was rekindled when a Christian apologist sought to challenged my proof’s premises. Amazingly enough, this brought out several believers who actually challenged Premise 1 of my proof – i.e., the basic recognition that the imaginary is not real – in order to defend their Christian theism. This in turn led to me providing even more support on behalf of my argument, which has proved to be more effective than I had originally expected. Thank you, Christian apologists!

So here’s to Year Nine! There's lots more to come. Hoist the steins, folks, and drink to another fun-filled year of anti-apologetic detection!

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Seven

Today is March 26, 2012, which means: another anniversary of Incinerating Presuppositionalism has been reached. That’s right, another milestone has been achieved.

The past year has signaled a most momentous transition for me. I moved with my then three-year-old daughter to Thailand from the United States in May 2011, started a new position, and have sought to live as a functionally single parent in a foreign country (where I do not speak the language). It’s been the experience and challenge of a lifetime. My lasting as long as I have – with my daughter reaching her fourth birthday, completing her first year of kindergarten, and developing as an exceptionally gifted child (albeit, with my special help) – is not a miracle, but a testament to my dedication and perseverance as a civilized human being and my ability as a father. Indeed, I’m not the kind of parent who’s about to stand idly by and let his child be abducted, tortured and executed by a bunch of lawbreakers and miscreants. Nope, unlike the Christian god, I’ll protect my child till my last breath!

In the meantime, I have continued with my blog, and have published the following entries since my blog’s last anniversary, the same time last year:

250. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Six – March 26, 2011

251. Imagine There’s a Heaven - April 29, 2011

252. The Argument from the Unity of Knowledge - May 25, 2011

253. Considering Tony’s Offerings - June 2, 2011

254. A Proof that the Christian God Does Not Exist - July 15, 2011

255. Nide’s Snide - July 22, 2011

256. Presuppositionalism vs. Objectivism: How Objectivism Prevails - August 2, 2011

257. Five Years and Still Waiting… - August 12, 2011

258. STB: One Year and Still Waiting… - August 27, 2011

259. Answering Nide’s Questions about the Uniformity of Nature - September 6, 2011

260. Strange Bedfellows? - October 3, 2011

261. George H. Smith’s “Atheism: The Case Against God” – Online – Free PDF - October 16, 2011

262. Has the Primacy of Existence Been Refuted? - October 27, 2011

263. A Reply to Dustin Seger’s Dismantled Blog Entry on Objectivism - November 1, 2011

264. Cognitive Reliability vs. Supernatural Deception - November 21, 2011

265. Christianity’s Sanction of Evil - December 1, 2011

266. Christianity’s Psychological Price Tag - December 4, 2011

267. Some Thoughts on the “Sensus Divinitatis” - December 6, 2011

268. A Reply to Michael: Further Thoughts on the Issue of Supernatural Deception - December 10, 2011

269. Are the Laws of Logic “Thoughts” of the Christian God? - January 1, 2012

270. Reaction to My Critique of Anderson and Welty’s “The Lord of Non-Contradiction” - February 25, 2012

271. Nide’s 15 - March 6, 2012

272. Can a Worldview “Provide” the “Preconditions of Intelligibility”? - Part I - March 16, 2012

273. Can a Worldview “Provide” the “Preconditions of Intelligibility”? - Part II - March 17, 2012

274. Can a Worldview “Provide” the “Preconditions of Intelligibility”? - Part III - March 20, 2012

275. The Self-Attesting Absurdity of the Christian Worldview - March 22, 2012

Highlights from the past year include (not to mention being evacuated from a flooded Bangkok in the fall of 2011!):

- A Proof that the Christian God Does Not Exist;

- the one year anniversary of the publication of my refutation of Sye Ten Bruggencate’s argument for the existence of his god (which is still unrefuted);

- a most historic pwning of Dustin Segers in his fault-ridden attempt to refute the primacy of existence;

- two posts interacting with James Anderson and Greg Welty’s paper The Lord of Non-Contradiction, found here and here;

- and a three-part analysis of the presuppositionalist claim that the Christian worldview “provides” the necessary preconditions for intelligibility, found here, here, and here.

So there’s a lot here to sink your teeth into. So get busy – start reading, start digesting, start thinking. Consider the points I raise, and formulate your own view. Perhaps I’m wrong. If so, discover why. Perhaps I’m right. If so, understand why. In the meantime, I will do my best, given my haphazard and very full schedule, to keep up with my blog and carry it to its eighth anniversary.

by Dawson Bethrick

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Six

Today is March 26, which means another anniversary here at Incinerating Presupposition has rolled around once again. The first posting on Incinerating Presuppositionalism was published on March 26, 2005, a whole six years ago. And though this past year has been relatively sluggish in terms of posting activity, I am alive and well, and the state of IP is strong.

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Five

Join me as I celebrate today, the fifth anniversary of Incinerating Presuppositionalism. That’s right – five whole years of torching the scarecrows and strawmen of Vantillian apologetics. What could be funner?

Still unrefuted, I’m happy to report.

Year Five was mighty productive! Below is the list of the 50 entries which I posted since the fourth anniversary of my blog:


175. Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Four – March 26, 2009

176. Was Jesus a Great Moral Teacher? - April 1, 2009

177. Three Questions on the Resurrection - April 4, 2009

178. Q and A on Atheism - April 7, 2009

179. Ultimate Questions - April 28, 2009

180. Non-Cognitivism or Metaphysical Primacy: What’s the Better Strategy? - May 15, 2009

181. The “Necessary Being” Versus “Contingent Being” Argument - May 22, 2009

182. Theistic Misuse of the Concepts of Meaning, Value and Purpose - June 19, 2009

183. Demystifying Universality - June 22, 2009

184. Is the “immaterial” Actually Imaginary? - June 24, 2009

185. Is Existence Merely an Attribute? - June 26, 2009

186. Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? Part I: Examining the Presuppositionalist Viewpoint - June 29, 2009

187. Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? Part II: Reasons Why Logic Cannot Presuppose the Christian God, #1: Christianity’s Lack of Objectivity - July 2, 2009

188. Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? Part II: Reasons Why Logic Cannot Presuppose the Christian God, #2: Christianity’s Lack of Concept Theory - July 4, 2009

189. Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? Part II: Reasons Why Logic Cannot Presuppose the Christian God, #3: Contradictions in Christ - July 6, 2009

190. Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? Part II: Reasons Why Logic Cannot Presuppose the Christian God, #4: The Trinity - July 8, 2009

191. The Concept of “Chance”: Right and Wrong Uses - July 10, 2009

192. Chris Bolt on the Conditions of Knowledge - July 24, 2009

193. A Rejoinder to Chris Bolt - July 26, 2009

194. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge - Part 1: Overview of RK's Epistemology - August 13, 2009

195. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge - Part 2: RK's Axioms - August 18, 2009

196. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 3: RK’s “No Brute Facts” Claim - August 19, 2009

197. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 4: RK on Man’s “Warrant” for Using Logic - August 20, 2009

198. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 5: Exodus 3:14 - August 21, 2009

199. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 6: RK on the Christian’s “Certainty” - August 24, 2009

200. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 7: Rival Epistemologies - August 25, 2009

201. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 8: The “Impossibility of the Contrary” - August 26, 2009

202. RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge – Part 9: Supernatural Deception - August 28, 2009

203. Response to Madmax - August 31, 2009

204. Chris Bolt’s Questions - September 1, 2009

205. Bolt’s Loose Screws - September 4, 2009

206. Bolt’s Leaking Boat - September 6, 2009

207. Can the Water in My Drinking Glass Turn into Merlot? - September 9, 2009

208. Natural Revelation: Direct Apprehension or Inference? - September 11, 2009

209. Chris Bolt on Hume and Induction - October 7, 2009

210. Bolt on Evidence and the Need to Take a Claim Seriously - October 14, 2009

211. Kreeft on the Design Argument - November 21, 2009

212. The Argument from Predication - December 26, 2009

213. Are Non-Christians Unable to “Account for” Their Counting? - January 9, 2010

214. How Theism Violates the Primacy of Existence - February 5, 2010

215. The Uniformity of Nature - February 12, 2010

216. Humean Causality and Presuppositionalism - March 5, 2010

217. Causality as a Necessary Relationship - March 10, 2010

218. John Robbins and the Foreclosure of His Critique of Objectivism - March 11, 2010

219. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Irrefutable Evidence that Christianity is True! - March 13, 2010

220. Bolt’s Pile of Knapp, Pt. 1 - March 19, 2010

221. Bolt’s Pile of Knapp, Pt. 2 - March 20, 2010

222. Bolt’s Pile of Knapp, Pt. 3 - March 21, 2010

223. Bolt’s Pile of Knapp, Pt. 4 - March 22, 2010

224. Bolt’s Pile of Knapp, Pt. 5 - March 23, 2010


Over the past year, as in previous years, I have interacted with numerous defenders of the Christian faith, the self-anointed spokesmen for the super-spook of a primitive philosophy which can be credited for no greatness whatsoever, and which is responsible for much stagnation and degeneration in the modern west, either directly or indirectly. Many of these folks have formal educations in the field of Christian apologetics. But they can’t hold a candle to me. My work shuts up their mouths, stops their pens, and turns off their keyboards.

Personal highlights over this past year include my series on logic (posts 186-190), my review of RazorsKiss’ debate with Mitch LeBlanc (posts 194-202), several posts on concepts (e.g., posts 182,183, 191, 213), and several posts addressing the presuppositionalist attack on induction (e.g., posts 207, 209, 215-218, 220-224).

Some of these series have already made their way to my website, Katholon.com, which may be a handy source if you’re ever confronted by a presuppositionalist. For instance, if an apologist claims that logic presupposes the Christian god and that one cannot “account for” it without his god’s existence, send him here. If an apologist claims that knowledge “presupposes” the Christian god, send him to my review of RazorsKiss’ debate with Mitch LeBlanc. If he says that the uniformity of nature requires the existence of the Christian god, give him this link which will leave no doubt that presuppositionalists are DOA (i.e., defeated on arrival) on the matter.

I plan to be active over the next year, but as always I am a most busy man. Some months will be more productive than others. But you can continue to expect delicious content here.

So here’s to enjoying another year of Incinerating Presuppositionalism.

Regards,

Dawson