365 Days Of Philosophy

Analyse the following debate and identify how well the debate unfolds — are there any fallacies involved, and what are they? Letty: Spiritual beliefs are irrelevant when it comes to philosophy. You can’t observe Santa Claus, and you can’t run a test for faith. I’ve never heard of a reasonable hypothesis test for faith, as it has to be investigated and evaluated. Philosophy is about testing and evaluating, so beliefs are not a part of philosophy. You either do Philosophy or you do navel gazing faith nonsense. Joe: Why not? I’m happy to debate the ethics of believing in Santa Claus! Just because faith isn’t the same as science doesn’t mean we cannot observe certain things about it. You don’t have to use sight to observe. Therefore, using rational reflection is a method of observation. Letty: But measuring a concept isn’t the same as measuring a real thing — an observation in terms of concept isn’t the same as that which is truly real in the world. For those reasons, scientific method applied to faith is just