Presuppositionalism tries to show that a non-God worldview does not make sense because it has no solid foundation. This is not a controversial statement; atheists will often admit that they have no “true” or “foundational” basis for their beliefs – in essence they themselves will admit that they also have presuppositions, basic tennets they cannot prove or show to be true. Thus the question “How do you know that?” which is designed to point out by proxy that the statement being challenged is actually false.
This will often be challenged as a genetic fallacy, claiming that the p. is attacking the a. and saying his statement is wrong because he is an atheist. This is untrue; the p. is claiming the statement is wrong because it has no rational basis. Actually, it would probably be more rational to say the p. is not even claiming the a. is wrong, but that he cannot possibly know the truth of his statement, and it would then follow that he should re-evaluate his worldview, or seek and learn enough new information that he could make a “properly informed” decision – usually represented by converting to Christianity. At which point the a. will have the “revelation of the holy spirit” or some other form of “direct revelation” and will then be able to justify his beliefs based on the existence of God.
In any case this question does not represent nor imply a genetic fallacy.
First it should be understood that as a pre-requirement, God created us in the manner we are. Thus then what is the manner we are – how do we know things? It is a fundamental principle of the bible that when God created human beings in their capacity to be human beings, he stated that his creation was “very good”. Subsequent changes to the relationship between man and God did not affect how they know things. Thus in the following discussion it must be understood that we hold this is how God created us. It is not a statement that we don't necessarily need God to know things, it's just a statement of how we observe we actually are, how we know things, and we note that this is how God must have created us, since, here we are.
Note; The following should be understood; “why do neurons fire;” is because of the inputs we get; all inputs are given as digital representations of analog signals, at some unknown (unimportant) but sufficiently fine fidelity, such that they may be represented by a frequency of neurons firing. The meaning of this and it's application will be explained in greater detail after a basic understanding of neurons are given as follows:
It is an observable fact that the primary construction and operation of the brain at the physical level can be modeled by comparing it to a self-modifying neural network. On the physical level, any process by which is needed to support a “spiritual” or “mental” thought can be wired in via this network – with the possible exception of the nature of consciousness itself, which science reveals is related to gamma synchrony in the brain. But that topic is also loosely based on the fact that the brain is a self-modifying neural network – and as such examining this model and it's implications is of primary importance for understanding how (and why) the brain works at a physical level, and how this operation creates the emergent properties of thought, memory, consciousness, free-will, etc.
The physical brain is essentially a series of neurons connected to each other in a specific (useful) way. Let us discuss some examples so you understand how this works and why we will choose a simplistic example – i.e. how and why we reduce the complex actual examples to a more simplistic example.
A m-and neuron will fire when the majority of the inputs fire. We will call this a “Majority AND” for reasons that will become clear when we get to the discussion of an example “AND” neuron.
Now let us examine some cases of how this works.
Say there is a neuron – Neuron A. Coming into this neuron are connections from neuron B, C, D and E. Going out from this neuron are connections to four other neurons – neuron F, neuron G, neuron H and neuron J.
Diagram:
B C D E
| | | |
(Neuron "A")
| | | |
F G H J
Now we have several cases:
Let's say that Neuron A is looking to fire only when the majority of inputs fire; i.e. it wants to preserve a signal that comes in from multiple sources. Therefore, it will send out a signal to four neurons only if three incoming neurons fire.
Why would the brain choose to grow such a neuron? This is not relevant at the moment, that will be discussed after the examples of different possible neurons.
An OR neuron would work like this:
A B
| |
(OR Neuron)
|
C
In an OR neuron, C will fire if and only if at least A or B fires. If any one of them fires, the neuron will fire. This is just a chemical state of the neuron, what kind of neuron it is physically, how it operates based on the chemical interactions in the brain, whatever. We are looking at a simplistic model of neurons here, for the purpose of clarifying how the brain works.
Consider the following case:
Such that; if any two input neurons (A1 to A4) fire, at least one B output will fire.
Such that; if any three input neurons (A1 to A4, fire, three B output neurons will fire.
Now, when any three (or four) A-input neurons fire, at least two C neurons will fire.
Now, finally, in a third layer, we connect C1 and C2, and C2 and C3 to OR neurons. The outputs are D1 and D2.
Finally we have a single OR neuron; taking D1 and D2 as inputs, with E1 as output. You could also have four outputs.
Therefore, a four-layer series of OR neurons will produce the same net result as a single M-AND neuron.
You may also consider a single AND neuron; such that (neuron) will fire ONLY if both inputs fire.
A B
(some neuron)
C
If you have some circuit in the brain which requires an AND neuron, then as this neuron processes information we may represent the process by the following pseudo-code:
ex.
This shows how the brain is just signals moving around neurons, with the neurons representing certain pathways and rules for the transmission of that information.
It should also be understood that in every way where these instructions may be executed in parallel, they are executed in parallel meaning, if we also have another neuron such that a second block of code could be defined as:
However, if we have some block of code such as;
then logically, the G–>H process cannot complete until the A–>B and X–>Y processes complete.
So it's an interesting aside that each signal in the brain represents a sort of parallel processing.
While we do not know exactly how the brain works, it is possible to create some sort of pseudocode or some sort of flowchart that expresses, in very general or loose terms, how the brain processes information.
For example, if we look at how information enters short term memory, intermediate-term memory, or long-term (essentially permanent) memory, we can see the following sort of pattern:
Information IN
\
Initial Analysis (ex. subconscious organization of information)
\ /
Consciousness /
\ /
Short Term Memory
Thus we see in some simplistic fashion, our short term memory is partially informed by what we think about, and even if we do not directly think about it, some images or sounds can become recognizable on a very short term basis merely by experiencing them. However, to enter long term memory we observe a feedback cycle which is overlaid upon the previous diagram:
| \
In short, by repeatedly drawing from consciousness (either from input from “initial analysis” i.e. observation/experience) or from short term memory (recollection and/or experience) a feedback process imprints this information into a medium-term memory. Perhaps memory that will last between several hours and several days. This is like trying to cram for a test.
So during the pseudocode, some information is stored in the brain in places (ex. slot A, slot B, slot C) and when the information in these places fills up, the brain uses neuro-net filters to reduce the information into slots D, E, F, etc. which are places in the brain that are designated to store long term memory. The slots A, B and C are then cleared (which is why short and medium term memory is what it is; it's the part of the brain which is used for this process).
As you fire pathways in the brain which store and retrieve information, you will get the following kind of idea
HELLO (H = 8, E = 5, L = 12, L = 12, O = 15) So maybe this information in binary is something like
H = 1000 E = 0101 L = 1100 L = 1100 O = 1111
Now, this could be processed in various ways== for example the information could be stored as 10000101110011001111 in the brain. Now, if the brain was super-efficient, it would realize that 20 bits is not required to represent a word; maybe 16 bits is enough. Maybe 14 bits is enough (i.e. the number of syllables in English). Maybe even 8 bits is enough. So by some process, the word “HELLO” may be stored as an 8 bit number in the brain – by example speculation.
Thus, if two words are pulled from the brain, we may have some process by which WORD1 and WORD2 are compared and if found to be true, and third value would be created, which could be the meaning of a stored word.
This is how the brain stores and retreives information.
This code is created out of shared cultural experience. An example of this is how idioms in a language tend to revolve around sayings found in the public consciousness. These kinds of things are familiar to the mind, and when the mind wants to convey information in a concise or obvious fashion it will appeal to the (assumed) shared cultural experience of the other mind.
How do you know that can then be understood as “what does it mean to know something”? To know something, one must be able to a) pull it out of one's memory, and b) evaluate the truth and falsehood of that thing. This requires the person solely to have had some input on the subject before (to enable A) and to have some context surrounding (A) in order to be able to evaluate it as true or false.
Notice that the bar for A and B here is set extremely low; this means that human beings can believe in almost anything – the mind tends to invent an excuse in order to rationalize what it has seen; It is not possible for us to alter the information A and B which enters the brain; what is possible however is for us to repeat this cycle internal to our own thoughts in an effort to rewire our short, medium and long-term memory; by focusing on something, one increases the value proposition in the brain to wire a specific pathway for that statement, knowledge or memory and in this way it is possible for us to actually alter our memories and create beliefs for which there is no actual justification.
(to be continued)