Quote:
Originally Posted by tame_deuces
It's an induction not a deduction, and it is fairly straightforward. Here is one of identical form, with an analogous protest to yours:
A: "Look at the pyramids, humans seem to have a tendency towards construction".
B: "No, if they did... we would see smaller groups of people constructing pyramids"
I don't really see these as analogous at all. The change of language from "tendency towards" and "obsession with" is significant. Second, physical construction and intellectual construction are not similar processes.
This is the structure of my objection:
A: Look at all the religions. Humans must be obsessed with making stuff up.
B: Since there is only 1 religion for every 50,000* people, I don't think looking at religions is good evidence of this obsession.
* It's more like 1 religion for every 1,000,000 people.