Women in the Church

Paul S. Dixon dixonps at juno.com
Wed Aug 19 13:35:48 EDT 1998



On Wed, 19 Aug 1998 22:16:36 +1200 "Trevor and Margaret Nicholls"
<tmjpbn at ihug.co.nz> writes:
>
>Paul Dixon wrote:
>> In summary, there is a conflict between 1 Cor 11:5 and 1 Cor 14:34-45,
>> only if one assumes the negation of 1 Cor 11:5.  As you well know,
>> the negation of a conditional is not a valid inference.  "If A, then
>> B" does not imply "if not A, then not B."  1 Cor 11:5 says, "she who
>> prays or prophesies with her head uncovered shames her head." 
>> This does not imply, as most usually erroneously infer, the negation:
>> she who prays or prophesies with her head covered does not shame her
>> head.
>
>At the risk of lapsing into symbolic logic and not Greek, IMHO Paul (D)
>has oversimplified the construction of Paul (the Ap).
>Note that his "A" is itself a compound (i.e. A = prays or prophesies and
>not head covered). Better is
>
>if A and not B, then C
>
>where A = prays/prophecies
>            B = head covered
>            C = head shamed
>
>Now there are three possible converses
>if A and B then not C ??  -- this is Paul D's only proposition
>if not A and not B then not C ?? 
>if not A and not B then not C ??

We are not talking about converses here, but negations.
Using your notation, 1 Cor 11:5 may be denoted:

	If A and not B, then C.

The negation usually inferred from this is:

	If A and B, then not C.

The negation of the first statement (If A and not B, then C)
is techically: if not (A and not B), then not C.  This may appear
as either:
	If A and B, then not C.
	If not A and not B, then not C, or
	If not A and B, then not C.

Any of the above three are negations of the original conditional,
and may not be inferred from it.

>Given that both B and C involve the head, the interpretation
>which most of us "erroneously infer" is not so stupid, methinks.

That B and C both involve the head has nothing to do with affirming
the truthfulness of the negation.

I would not call such a misinference "stupid," just an oversight.

If any wish to continue this discussion, we should probably do so
off-list.


Paul Dixon

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