You are confused by the difference between natural language and logical notation. The phrase “a building with a stupid layout” is equivalent to “there is not a good reason for these several features.” Thus it fits the definition of the inverse of B, called “not B”. Also, English word order is sometimes different from a logical “if… then” statement. I originally said, “Right, I forgot that there’s never been a building in the history of the human race with a stupid layout.” This sentence can be reworded to more closely resemble a logical statement while retaining the same essential meaning. The result (leaving out the sarcasm) would be something like, “If there was not a good reason for a particular layout, then no building would have that layout.” Hence, “If not B then not A.”
A statement does not have to have a determined truth value before you perform logical operations on it. Regular algebra lets you deal with unknown real numbers; likewise Boolean algebra lets you deal with unknown values that are either true or false.
Dante, your argument was a logical fallacy if your conclusion was “There is a reason for the door to be there”. Specifically it was Appeal to Authority. If your conclusion was “There might be a reason for the door to be there” then it can be assumed true unless somebody can prove that there absolutely cannot be such a reason.
The statement
made by sturmhauke is a sarcastic statement that is a reasonably correct rebuttal to your fallacious argument.
It is assuming that “All buildings in the history of the human race were designed by humans” which is a reasonable assumption, and claims that “Some buildings designed by humans are not reasonable”. Your claim that it follows from the fact that humans designed the building that it is reasonable is refuted by the statement that there are buildings designed by humans that are not.
The statement “All building designed by humans are reasonable” is contradictory to “At least one building designed by humans is not reasonable”, both cannot be true.
I did use the qualifier “might” in my original post, so I’m not sure what you’re getting at. And since it appears that sturmhauke is no slouch in the critical thinking department, I’ll retract the snark in my post, before I get my butt handed to me.
To be honest, it sounds to me like the door is in a stupid place, and I suspect OtakuLoki hit the reason for it being there on the head.
I work on a secured hospital floor with alarmed emergency exit doors. For visitors to get onto this floor, they have to obtain a pass from the security guards at the podium in the lobby located immediately upon getting off the elevator. There is a smaller set of elevators that have to be keyed, further into our unit. These elevators are painted an unappetizing gray/tan and have STAFF ONLY NOT FOR VISITOR USE stencils on the doors. In English and Spanish. At the end of our scary long hall, there is an emergency exit with large red signs saying ALARM WILL SOUND NOT AN EXIT in English and Spanish. There is a small stop sign placed in front of the door saying STOP ALARM WILL SOUND.
How many times a week do you think the alarm sounds?
A Code Exit ( Infant abduction ) is called with every alarm triggered. Each RN counts her assigned babies personally and reports to our charge nurse. Other staff monitors all exits, closes off the unit and asks visitors to not leave the floor. Security verifies each RN has counted and only then disables the alarm, which is ear-splitting. The alarm stays on if the person going through the alarmed door refuses to be detained or if anyone leaves the floor.
How many times a week does hospital staff trigger the alarm?
I’m guessing that most of the people who trigger the alarm aren’t, say, recent immigrants from Southeast Asia who speak neither English nor Spanish. I also have to wonder how often people try to sneak off with babies. Damn, the whole thing sounds like it sucks.