One neglected, but important rule of logic is "from false premises, anything follows."

This may be the most important single post ever made on the Cat. The infinite number of possible ramifications of falsification is mind-boggling and makes it very clear where the seeker of truth has to pay attention: on the premises.

Almost any religion you care to name has a few or many false assumptions in it, and as a result they become overblown with bizarre complexities and entities called upon to exist to compensate for the premises, and so on. Many medieval scientific theories are similarly complicated (the subject of alchemy comes to mind) and riddled with complexities that can be rapidly reduced to clarity not by addressing them in themselves (which just multiplies the issues) but by finding the false premises.

The weighty importance and value in use of this rule is downright stunning.

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