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Sunday, 31 August 2014

Relevant is a matter of relevant to...


If the events that occur are irrelevant to the truth value of a claim, then the truth value of that claim is irrelevant to the events that occur.  Let's look at the role relevance plays in marshaling evidence to establish everyday knowledge, and then exploring its religious applications and assess the implications of a disconnect between propositional beliefs and the standard canons of evidence in religious contexts.

The general characteristics of relevance determine its use in everyday contexts.  Relevance and irrelevance are two-lace, symmetrical, and reciprocal relations. If particular interests are (ir) relevant to the effectiveness of an advertising campaign on a certain demographic, then the effectiveness of an advertising campaign there will be (ir) relevant to whether those interests occur there.

Similarly, if mundane events are (ir) relevant to whether the divine exists, then the existence of the divine will be (ir)relevant to mundane events.  If what happens in this life is not relevant to whether God exists, then whether God exists cannot be relevant to what happens in this life.

One can try to wiggle-off this hook by appealing to the "transcendence" of God and implausibly suggesting that when X transcends Y, Y can be relevant to X without X being relevant to Y.

One can also try to wiggle-off this hook by saying that God's involvement does show in this life, but only "eschatologically" (that is, the end of the age, and the end of time).







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