Bulverism

(In Response to C.S. Lewis's article titled "Bulverism")
In reading the article about Bulverism I cannot help but think of my older brothers. This "tactic" or reasoning is parallel to that of an older brother "always knowing what is best" if they are wrong or not. As a younger brother you are always assumed wrong, when you finally are in the know and have a solid argument it is defeated by what I know deem as Bulverism. In this instance I am assumed wrong and ridiculed on past and irrelevant happenings until I have been discredited to the point where no one has any idea of how the argument started or is about. In this manner the older siblings have successfully avoided looking less intelligent and can now claim that they have still never been wrong. After employing the system of Bulverism a person is likely to use the argument against that person claiming that they originated the idea.

I not only see this in my family but everywhere I go. Political debates, church politics, friendship circles and many other areas where arguments take place. Rarely are arguments won by rationalization and sound logic. They are won, however, by whoever is the most dominating. Whoever speaks louder, whoever has the last word, whoever intimidates his opponent will win the argument regardless. Rarely is this untrue.

The essay delves deeper into the heart of the matter towards the end of the portion by C.S. Lewis. He acknowledges that even though it may not produce results we would still all rather have reason than implement bulverism. Lewis poses the question of whether one must believe in God in order to "know." A notion that we all must answer in the negative. However, if knowing means to truly know in the sense that only absolute truth comes from God and that a close relationship with him means a closer relationship with the truth, then yes, one must believe in order to truly know.

Lewis makes the claim that all truth and argument must be founded on either causes or reason. "Causes are mindless events which can produce other results than belief. Reasons arise from axioms and inferences and affect only beliefs. Bulverism tries to show that the other man has causes and not reasons and that we have reasons and not causes." ... "If these are the results of causes, then there is no possibility of knowledge. Either we can know nothing or thought has reasons only, and no causes." Obviously we have know something which lends itself to reason, to knowledge, to truly knowing, to belief, where a belief is the strongest argument based and rooted in God.