Logic types

[WaldoMcFroog]

What's the scientific word for a logical fallacy such as 'God is true because it says so in the Bible'. This is not an excuse to bash Christians for illogical belief systems by the way; there is a proper name for such a question, but the old noggin's gone wonky...

[jno]

might be a circular argument or non sequitur, but not sure if those are what you're looking for

[Peter Pedant]

non sequitur ?

The problem is that it is not true (or not false) for all x

There really was an earthquake in Pakistan because I read it in the DT

If you are worried about because - then false premisses.

[WaldoMcFroog]

A non sequitur is where b does not proceed from a, isn't it? It is a circular argument, you're right, but I'm sure there's a specific philosophical term which is used when debating logic.

[Quizmonster]

To beg the question. Click here and scroll down to the paragraph which opens: "The original sense..."

[foxy.fagin]

Simply 'fallacy', no? And we would say it is 'fallacious'?

[jno]

yes, non sequitur = it does not follow. Just because it says something in the Bible doesn't make it true; that's not a proof.

Alternatively, if you believe everything in the Bible is automatically true because it's God's word, and you believe God is true because it's in the Bible, I think that's circular reasoning. Or begging the question. But I don't know if any of these are accepted terms of rhetoric.

[Quizmonster]

The original "accepted term of rhetoric" for such reasoning was - in Latin - 'petitio principii', as discussed in the link I offered earlier. That has been 'to beg the question' in English for almost half a millemnnium. The fact that modern usage has distorted the phrase out of all recognition does not negate that.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Thank you all. 'Begging the question' was the expression my brain had decided to keep from me!

[hughcool]

You're looking for MODUS PONENS and there are others like MODUS TOLLENS.  Modus Ponens takes the form:

all A are B,  this is an A,  therefore it's a B

so: everything in the Bible is true, this is in the bible,

therefore it's true

trouble here is the first premise though!