Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
I'm very sure that unicorns do not exist, and the reason I am sure is that (a) I know exactly what a unicorn would look like, (b) there is good reason to believe that somebody would have seen a unicorn if they existed, and (c) there are no credible reports of any unicorn sightings.
Now let's suppose I'd never seen a picture of a unicorn and was in all other respects ignorant of their alleged appearance. Suppose I know nothing about unicorns except two things: They are some kind of animal, and they are widely regarded as imaginary. Now suppose a friend of mine, whom I know to be generally trustworthy, returns from a vacation in some wilderness and says, "You won't believe this, but I saw a unicorn." I say, "That's impossible. Unicorns don't exist." He says, "Sure they do. Look at this picture I took." So I look, and it's a picture of something that, to me, looks like a horse. So I say, "That's not a unicorn. That's a horse." My friend says, "Well, unicorns do look a lot like horses, but this is not a horse. It's a unicorn." I respond, "No, it's not a unicorn." He asks, "How can you be so sure? Do you even know what a unicorn looks like?" And I reply, "Since I don't believe unicorns exist, I'm not sure what they would look like." At this point of the discussion, I suspect you'll agree that my skepticism is not well justified.
Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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The mere fact that a person by that name really existed is not evidence for the historical existence of a fictional character having that name.
Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
Originally posted by Palaeogrammatos
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