Sherlock Holmes Fallacy / Process of Elimination

the Sherlock Holmes fallacy is one of the many smokescreens that are used to cover the fact that the reasoning is based on one of the three fallacies of Agrippa's trilemma. Whenever a logical fallacy is committed, the fallacy has its roots in Agrippa's trilemma. The Sherlock Holmes fallacy accomplishes this by a process of elimination from all the possible options. However, it's impossible to know whether or not all the options are known. In the end, Sherlock Holmes type reasoning is based on the same three fallacies. All human thought (without Divine revelation) is based on one of three unhappy possibilities. These three possibilities are infinite regress, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This problem is known as Agrippa's trilemma. Some have claimed that only logic and math can be known without Divine revelation; however, that is not true. There is no reason to trust either logic or math without Divine revelation. Science is also limited to the pragmatic because of the weakness on human reasoning, which is known as Agrippa's trilemma.

The Sherlock Holmes Fallacy / Process of Elimination occurs when the method of thinking is to find every possible explanation and to disprove all but one. This is a claim to omniscience. Sherlock Holmes sometimes called this deduction. It was not. With this type of method, you can come up with explanations such as aliens, Big Bang, Molecules-to-Man, No Flood, Abiogenesis, Naturalism, Materialism, etc. Since some of these things are taught to students, it’s no wonder that many students have no idea how to make rational decisions.

Examples of the Sherlock Holmes Fallacy / Process of Elimination

“I believe that God exists because there are only two theories of the existence of the Universe, evolutionism and creationism. Evolutionism must be eliminated because it is unscientific. Therefore, the remaining theory is true: creationism. Creationism requires a creator; therefore, God exists.”

Why go through all those mental gymnastics. Get to know the Creator God. The door is open through Christ. Everyone who seeks Him finds Him. Everyone who prays to Him and asks Him to be their own Lord and to forgive their wandering from Him will find out that He exists and that He is good. They will know this by personal experience. Of course, they must come in reverence, or respect. They must come with a will to do His will. They must be humble before Him. And they must be willing to acknowledge Him. In other words, they can’t come insincerely. Evolutionism is often defended using the Sherlock Holmes fallacy.

Fallacy Abuse

Adapted from an evolution website: “The Sherlock Homes fallacy is how belief in gods/evil spirits develops.”

To say that the Sherlock Homes fallacy is how belief in the true God develops is a claim based on the presupposition of no spiritual realm. To base a claim on an unproven assertion is not rational. Evil spirits do manifest themselves without deduction or inductive interpretation. There may be interpretation afterward. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit manifest themselves. We are now dealing with raw fact without the vagaries of human thinking. After the fact, theologies creep in, and these theologies are human interpretations. Those who follow Christ do so because they know Him, and because they are led by Him and are taught by Him. Not only that, but whoever seeks Him (prays in sincere submission, respect, humility, repentance with a will to do His will) finds Him, so this is testable. And those who are following Christ are learning more about this continually. The statement on the evolution website was later modified to say, "Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes, ended up believing in spiritualism and fairies, using the Holmes method." This is also untrue. Doyle belonged to an organization that stated that took the following as principles: The Fatherhood of God. The Brotherhood of Man. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels. The Continuous Existence of the human soul. Personal Responsibility. Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all the good and evil deeds done on earth. Eternal Progress open to every human soul. How he came to join this group is unknown. He was a Christian. Whether he knew Christ personally would be difficult to determine. Doyle seems to have looked into psychics (not something that a Christian ought to do since psychics are either fakes or are dealing with demons) and he questioned the religion of Naturalism. Even to this day, Naturalists are constructing scenarios and accusations against him.