Statement S: If S is true then God exists
Logically, statement S must be either true or false.

1. Suppose S is false.

2. If S if false, then any statement that starts with "If S is true..." is true *(see note)

3. Specifically, the statement "If S is true then God exists" would be true

4. This is exactly what S says, so S would have to be true

5. This is in contradiction with 1., so S cannot be false.

6. Therefore S is true.

7. So the statement "If S is true then God exists" is true.

8. By modus ponens, since S is indeed true, then the second half of that statement is true.

9. God exists.

Note of course that you can make the same argument to prove that God doesn't exist, or anything else.
What, if anything, is wrong with this proof?

*Note: This is the part that I expect most people will comment on. It is one of the standard logical rules that if something, A, is true, you can say "If (~A) then..." and that will always be true. For instance, I could say "If George Washington is alive then the moon is made of cheese" and that would be considered true in natural logic.

Wow! What a great postulate! If we didn't know that, we wouldn't be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide! So isn't that the best?

To Someone: No, mainly because the barber is a girl.

I think that's interesting Sam. I think that logic is too hard for me to understand. Without postulates I am stuck, so I can't really approach things that define themselves. Just ignore Someone (who has done very well by posting many posts until this recent one about Someone Else and in submitting problems that are already on the site) in these recent posts. :)

In one of my problems, I am defining a number in terms of itself with stuff done to it. (Called "Power to the 2" currently, with a pid of 1525) which is also interesting.

Posted by Gamer on 2003-12-14 14:31:21