Philosophers over the ages have suggested that logic and reason are inherently flawed. How can this be so? After all, logic and reason are simply factual deductions about the nature of reality, aren’t they? Logic, which is rational deductions made from observation or inference; or reason, which is the capacity for rational, logical, or analytical thought, how can these be wrong? How can deduction itself be inherently flawed?
To demonstrate the inherent weakness in logic and reason, let me illustrate a story, and with you even understanding that this is a test, do not look at the result, but first come to a conclusion about it. It would appear that the result should be obvious.
A mother and child are killed by a drunk driver. Fifteen eyewitnesses saw the event, and all of them report a similar story. A black tesla with tinted windows in California was speeding, and the vehicle swerved onto the sidewalk, they heard curse words and death threats coming out of the window such as “kill” and “hate you” and related words and obscenities, and the mother and child were run over and killed. Upon investigation, the lack of tire marks in the road showed that the vehicle did not attempt to brake, and fled the scene. The toxicology came back intoxicated, and the man pled guilty to premeditated murder and did not contest the incident.
Was he guilty? Of course, right? Actually, no. The man was a politician and diplomat. He had been drugged and placed in the car. The Tesla had been hacked, and was being controlled remotely. The doors would not unlock, and the man was trapped inside. The brakes had been disabled remotely as well, and the man had no control over the vehicle. He attempted to steer it, but could not gain control of the vehicle.
Through the large screen, the man watched terrorists who had his wife and daughter, and they angrily threatened to kill his family if he did not confess to the murder. The voice was not his, but the terrorists who could be heard through the speakers. The mother and daughter were targets of the terrorist plot, actually the daughter was not a child, but a 25 year old adult, and the mother was 45, and they worked for the state department. They were not simply bystanders, but complicit in the crime.
Since the Tesla was totaled and the data from the car was not retrievable, the only evidence of the incident was the eyewitnesses and the man’s own confession. Since he confessed, the defense did not attempt to investigate the incident further.
Reason and logic failed and convicted the wrong man. Why did it happen? Because the information was wrong. This is a fictional story, but many people who have been sentenced and even executed have been exonerated decades later, even after their death, when new DNA evidence and technological advancements, or new information was revealed, which proved them innocent. Up until 2016, 342 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated by DNA evidence after a wrongful conviction. Many more have exonerated since.
The article above states that there are six main causes for wrongful conviction:
- Eyewitness misidentification
- False confessions or admissions
- Government misconduct
- Inadequate defense
- [Bad] Informants (e.g., jailhouse snitches)
- Unvalidated or improper forensic science
This is the inherent weakness in reason and logic. If the information is wrong, then the wrong conclusion can be drawn.
Because of this, people can be manipulated to believe lies beyond the shadow of a doubt, when the information they are given from multiple sources is manipulated, faulty, or simply incorrect. A person can be convinced to swear on their life that certain facts are correct, when they are entirely wrong. The problem is that the information has been manipulated to draw a false narrative.
This is what humanity has been dealing with since the advent of the information era, beginning with the invention of the printing press. Of course, this has been a problem long before, but it was only with the proliferation of the mass media after the printing press was invented that allowed to disseminate information fast and cheap, that logic and reason have been able to be manipulated so easily on such a large scale.
With the further monopolization of information around the world, with the narative carefully tailored through the mass media, television, phones, tablets, movies, documentaries, books, music, and even the educational establishments, scientitific establishments, and of course the political establishments, people are being bombarded with incorrect information on every front. With the truth hidden and the lies on every screen and in every book and in every movie, people are helpless victims of logic and reason. It was the foundation of a logical system of thinking that allowed this to take place.
The fact is that logic and reason cannot be trusted, because there is no way to be absolutely certain that the information is correct. Without adequate sources of genuine, well-researched and properly sourced information, and with the monopolization of every source of so-called “legitimate” mainstream information sources, including the entire educational, scientific, and medical “peer review” systems which are corrupt to their very core, nothing can be trusted, and your own deeply-held beliefs about the world we live in, history, science, medicine, and even systematic religion, cannot be trusted.
It is because of this that Christians hold to the Bible to be the authoritative source for truth about God; but even the religious institutions have been corrupted to their very core. Since most people get their information from religious leaders instead of researching the Bible for themselves, and because those religious leaders also get their information from seminaries, books, and theologians instead of discovering the truth independently through study of the scriptures, the sources of information about God and Christianity are also flawed to their very core.
The only true way to derive real truth is not to trust in the mind of man, or in reason or logic; but instead to put away all sources of information on the Earth besides the Word of God which is the Bible (and the original Bible at that), and to develop a real relationship with the living God, who is the source of spirit and truth. Only by the wisdom of God can one ever hope to derive truth, through the Holy Spirit. True wisdom and discernment does not come by books or videos or teachers, but this wisdom comes from God alone. This is why the Bible says,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)
Once one has a true relationship with God, the Holy Spirit will direct the person toward the sources of truth, independently; and with intense study of scriptures, a person can hope to derive enough wisdom to uncover the truths about God, the truths about the world we live in and the universe, the truths about Christianity, the truths about how to live, and the truths about what is right and what is wrong.
The blind and deaf convince themselves they are right, because they deduced it so.