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Meaningless Question

Description: Asking a question that cannot be answered with any sort of rational meaning. This is the textual equivalent of dividing by zero.

Logical Form:

Question asked.
Question is meaningless.

Example #1:

What’s north of the North Pole?

Explanation: The North Pole is the most northern point of the space in which we measure direction using the north, south, east, and west coordinates. “North” of the North Pole is meaningless.

Example #2:

What happened before time?

Explanation: “Before” is a term related to a place in time. Without time, this concept is meaningless.

Example #3:

How many angels can you fit on a head of a pin?

Explanation: Angels are said to be ghost-like in that they don’t take up space. “Fit” is a word that refers to space. The question is meaningless.

Fun Fact: The answers to our three meaningless questions are 1) Northness, 2) space and energy had sex, and 3) the answer depends on if Heaven has Krispy Kreme doughnut shops or not.

References:

Yngve, V., & Wasik, Z. (2006). Hard-Science Linguistics. A&C Black.

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Eat Meat... Or Don't.

Roughly 95% of Americans don’t appear to have an ethical problem with animals being killed for food, yet all of us would have a serious problem with humans being killed for food. What does an animal lack that a human has that justifies killing the animal for food but not the human?

As you start to list properties that the animal lacks to justify eating them, you begin to realize that some humans also lack those properties, yet we don’t eat those humans. Is this logical proof that killing and eating animals for food is immoral? Don’t put away your steak knife just yet.

In Eat Meat… Or Don’t, we examine the moral arguments for and against eating meat with both philosophical and scientific rigor. This book is not about pushing some ideological agenda; it’s ultimately a book about critical thinking.

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