PT 26 - "susceptible to proof" meaning

myinmyin Alum Member
in Logical Reasoning 10 karma
Hey all,

What does the phrase "susceptible to proof" mean? The context is an answer choice for a LR question, "A reasoning error in the argument is that the argument overlooks that what is not in principle susceptible to proof might be false."

This is Section 3, Question 10, PT 26 for your reference.

Thanks so much!

Comments

  • Dr. YamataDr. Yamata Member Inactive ⭐
    578 karma
    "susceptible" generally means vulnerable, likely to be influenced by, etc.

    It has a "weak" connotation in English. Like.. "the boy is susceptible to the drinking and partying his older friends encourage."

    I think in this question, "susceptible to proof" means something that is logically incapable of being proven, such as the existence of God or Hugh Everrett's "many worlds" theory or derivations thereof, or possibly a future contingent. Like.. "If Hillary doesn't win, Mitt will." Well.. that's a statement that's not susceptible to proof because no one can prove the future.

    That being said, choice B looks like a decoy answer designed to have you puzzled about its meaning. D was right and matches closer to the flaw in the argument. I believe I saw D and just picked it and moved on, since it's a perfect match to my pre-phrase.
  • myinmyin Alum Member
    10 karma
    Thanks so much! Just to clarify though, do you mean "susceptible to proof" means that something is logically capable, or incapable of being proven? Did you mean to say that "If Hilary doesn't win, Mitt will" is something susceptible to proof?
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    Susceptible to proof would mean it can be proven or disproven. Think of it as a capability to be affected by proof, or what in scientific terms is called falsifiable. The existence of God is not susceptible to proof since it can neither be proven or disproven given current knowledge and methodologies. I would not necessarily agree with the case about the future since while not susceptible to proof now, it will become so in the relatively near future. Think about any proofs you did in geometry in high school as a very literal illustration of things that are susceptible to proof (e.g. - vertical angle equivalency, the Pythagorean theorem, etc.)
  • Dr. YamataDr. Yamata Member Inactive ⭐
    578 karma
    @myin Ah yes, you are right. I did mean "capable." It's easy to get confused with negations. Thank you.

    @Pacifico.. At the point that the future occurs, then and only then would it become provable. The argument dates back to Aristotle and the future contingent sea battle. Logician David Lewis also write some fascinating work on the topic, which asserts that the prediction of the future approaches somewhat of an asymptote of "likelihood" but never crosses over into the verifiable true or false state. Fun stuff to think about!
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