Answer

Elizabeth. I want to thank you for this book you gave me on voodoo. And I appreciate your attempt to help me deal with my many enemies, but I really don't see how sticking pins into little wax figurines is going to kill anyone.
David. I understand that you need some reason to believe that voodoo works. I can give you that reason. You can be sure that voodoo works, because you can be sure that voodoo is an effective way of hurting your enemies.

There is no obvious mechanism by which sticking pins into wax figurines can kill anyone.
(Voodoo can only work if there is a mechanism by which sticking pins into wax figurines can kill people.)
Voodoo doesn't work. (Deductive -- direct argument.)

Voodoo is an effective way of hurting your enemies.
Voodoo does work. (Deductive -- opposing argument.)

Well, if it's true that voodoo is an effective way of hurting your enemies, then it absolutely follows that voodoo does work. But that's mainly because the sentences "voodoo does work" and "voodoo is an effective way of hurting your enemies" mean basically the same thing. David's argument begs the question. Given that the burden of proof lies on David to prove that such a contrascientific practice as voodoo can have any effect at all, this means that the only reasonable conclusion here is that voodoo does not work.

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