Comments on: shins

By: JiveKitty

JiveKitty — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:22:54 +0000

One can rely on their senses while still not believing them. They may just be the best thing to go on at the given time.

By: lesh

lesh — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:19:24 +0000

The usual mistake. Bumping into things and being bruised by them does not suddenly prove the theory false.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:22:49 +0000

I guess that means scientists are all skeptics, because they never can completely prove a theory. I guess in chemistry we should be learning skeptichiometry not stoichiometry then?

Anyway, I just discovered your comic and I like it. Excellent, another webcomic to read.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:38:30 +0000

Yeah, Jakob, I figured my last thought, that he would just be a liar, was correct.

By: gazza

gazza — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:19:27 +0000

I wonder if Mo can get a special discount on his petrol (gas) from his people in the Middle East? It is so expensive at present – though maybe Jesus can also conjure some up from water. Well if he can do wine then petrol should be a doddle.

By: Jakob

Jakob — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:25:24 +0000

Hobbes,

He wouldn’t be a hypocrite – just wrong. He could claim not to believe the bruises exist.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:24:19 +0000

Another thanks to Paper Hand. Answered my question as well.

However, it seems it would work both ways. If he had bruises on his shins, and still refuses to acknowledge the existence of solid objects, then wouldn’t he still be a hypocrite? Or would that make him just a liar?

By: rcw

rcw — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:28:31 +0000

Jobrag… Seat belts are unnecessary for this crew.
Each is his own air bag.

By: Art

Art — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Paper Hand – Ah, yes, I can see that interpretation now that it is spelled out for me. Thanks.

By: Jobrag

Jobrag — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:36:42 +0000

What does the fact that neither Jesus or Mo is wearing a seatbelt mean?
If Jesus knows that they are not going to crash, what happened to free will?
Is Mo serenely confident that Allah won’t call him till his time is up?
Is Moses wearing a belt I can’t tell.

By: Paper Hand

Paper Hand — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:31:13 +0000

That was directed towards the comment by Art two comments above mine.

By: Paper Hand

Paper Hand — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:30:36 +0000

I think that is the correct usage. Moses is saying that a radical skeptic without bruises on his shins is clearly behaving in a matter that indicates that he does, in fact, believe that physical objects exist. If he believes that there is no reason to believe that physical objects do exist, then why does he avoid walking into them? The lack of bruises shows that he is NOT radically skeptical about *everything*. He does accept the evidence of his senses.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:08:27 +0000

Reminds me of an elderly couple taking a sunday drive. The husband, hunched over the wheel, creeping along as I swear and rev my engine behind them. His wife, perhaps a little younger, but still a q-tip sitting stately at his side. Perhaps their grandkid is in town and sitting in the back, praying they arrive in once piece…

No, this post doesn’t have a point.

By: pikeamus

pikeamus — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:27:09 +0000

Ok, its taken me three days of very low productivity (both at home and at work) but I have finally managed to read every comic. I also read around 95% of the comments and around 50% of the pages linked to by both the author and other readers (indeed I’ve also added a couple of new blogs to my daily internets).

Just wanted to say a big thank you. Firstly to the author, this is an exceptional comic that manages to be consistently both hilarious and thought provoking and I expect to be jonsing for another hit very soon. Also, thanks to all the other readers who’ve had such interesting debates and discussions in the comments section. Theology and ethics are two areas in which I have basically no formal education so it has been most enlightening, hopefully as I begin to learn more I’ll be able to start contributing to the discussion.

Now I have to go to bed. Tomorrow I might actually get some work done.

By: Art

Art — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:11:13 +0000

I don’t think your use of “show me an x and I’ll show you a y” is being used correctly. The idea is that the x and y are the same (i.e. the x you showed me is the y I’ll show you). If your sceptic didn’t have bruises on their shins, then they aren’t necessarily a hypocrite. But I’ll cop to being a pedant…

By: Necessary Evil

Necessary Evil — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:02:45 +0000

Godalming was the home of the radio operator of the Titanic.

By: Johnnie

Johnnie — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:57:51 +0000

Ahh … we finally get to see what Mo does for a living. I wonder if he’s got the meter running.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:51:36 +0000

Hmm. Seems to me, though I have no reason to believe the belief over any other belief, that a radical skeptic with bruises on his chin, would be a hypocrite.

If I believed I had no more reason to believe there was a log in my path than there was not, and I continued to walk into the log in my path, the subsequent bruise I received should have been the validation that the belief in the existence of the log was more justified than the belief that it did not exist. Thus, if I continue to believe there was no justification to believe the log was there, then I would be a hypocrite? Isn’t this objectivity over subjectivity?

Are we sure Moses is correct? Is there any reason to believe either way? (scream!)

The unexamined belief cannot be believed any more than the examined one?

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:05:24 +0000

I hadn’t considered that (John).

Bodach, I think Jesus’ Dad was a bit hacked off at Moses when he dropped (and broke) the first set of tablets for the Big 10 – they had to have another go with Moses sat on Sinai for 40 days hangin’ about.

By: John The Geophysicist

John The Geophysicist — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:41:30 +0000

SCHISM ALERT

Any fool knows they live in Jesus College, Cambridge.

Why do you think they are always reading books.