Naked Potatoes

Author notes

First half of Pharmenides' argument on non-existant beings.

Ziaheart

on Dec. 24, 2006

Merry Christmas, y'all!


Pharmenides is seriously the most interesting Philosopher I've had the pleasure of studying. He had some wacky ideas.

This is the argument in the comic so far:

1) A necessary condition of making meaningful claims and having coherent thoughts about objective reality is that some of the terms or words in those claims and thoughts refer to something objectively real.
2) But then it is hard to see how negative existentials (claiming which deny the existence of something, e.g., "Santa Clause does not exist") could be meaningful.
3) For if such a sentence is really true then what am I talking about (i.e., to what does the term "Santa Clause" refer?)? Apparently nothing! Hence, I am talking and thinking about nothing.

However, there are more to this argument than this:

4) But it seems that there is no difference between thinking/talking about nothing and not thinking/talking meaningfully talking at all.
5) Thus, if such a sentence is true then it cannot be meaningful. But if it cannot be meaningful then it cannot be either true nor false.
6) Thus, if such a sentence is true it cannot be true.
7) Thus, such a sentence cannot be true. Yet clearly it is meaningful. Thus, it must be false.
——————————————————————–
8) Thus, in some important sense, things such as Santa Clause, Superman, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. must be objectively real!


Thus, the insensitive guy in this comic actually PROVED the existance of Santa Clause! So if you say ANYTHING about Santa (even in denial of his existance), you prove his existance. So, I hope you've been nice this year!