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rules of formal logic. Reason is the set of mental abilities/structures that permit an individual to
"work through" and understand an argument that corresponds to the rules and procedures of
formal logic.
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However, individual human reason is faced with certain limitations. To evaluate
the soundness of an argument, human rationality must rely on working memory capacity (which
has to maintain the evidence and previously taken logical steps during the evaluation), the
activation of relevant long-term memory structures to provide the conceptual context for
evaluation (including both logic rules and prior knowledge), and a host of mental skills which
equip the individual reasoner to identify the potential problems being faced in a particular
conceptual context, capacities all of which increase throughout childhood and which are more
well-developed in some individuals than others.
Reason's ability to use formal logic is essential for human understanding and
communication. Without assuming the rules of logic in our thought, nothing could be asserted as
true or false, and so all statements would be essentially meaningless. Without logic, no progress
could be made in understanding the underlying nature of the world. Science today is essentially
the application of logic to our observations of the created order. So the value of logic is
inestimable.
The Law of Non-Contradiction
The rule of logic of most interest for our present purposes is the law of non-contradiction
(LONC) since many current disagreements about the nature of God relate to perceived violations
of this law. The LONC states that no statement can be true and false at the same time and in the
same respect.
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Put another way, we cannot affirm that something is a certain way and at the
same time affirm that in the same sense it is not that way.
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For example, the two assertions,