"Ockhams Razor provides God as the simplest and thus the best explanation for the state of humanity."
60 comments
Nope. Nice try though. I mean, you spelled Ockham properly, and the grammar's at least reasonable, so it isn't a total waste of time.
Occam's razor states that an explanation should posit as few entities as possible, NOT that the explanation should be as simple as possible.
God is an extra, useless entity on top of natural forces, so he gets cut. Natural explanations can be incredibly complex, but have the fewest number of entities so they stay.
Okay...using Occam's razor, the way you are using it.
"a" is shorter, so it must be true.
Wonderfully simple view of the world, though.
"This man was murdered! But who was the murderer?"
If by the "state of humanity", you mean hateful, violent, war-like, selfish, greedy, self-centered, self-righteous, then you just might have a case.
Unfortunately for you, not everybody's a fundie.
The simplest answer is usually the right answer.
I guess godditit is the simplist answer.
Note the word "usually" though. It is not always the right answer.
But thanks for playing.
You mean your god created this mess? Tsunamis, earthquakes, war, famine...your god created this state for humanity? Babies dying of AIDS, children with horrific birth defects, kids living their lives with CP or CF...your god afflicted humanity with all these things? And more?
And you WORSHIP such a being? *gag*
"Ockhams Razor provides God as the simplest and thus the best explanation for the state of humanity."
Uh, no. Ockham's Razor is generally used to cut away superfluous entities so that you can start with the minimal assumptions and work from there. Deities tend to fall into that category and are usually the first to be removed.
Nice try though.
What's so simple about an omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent deity who can't whip armies with iron chariots, didn't know were Adam was and who kills everyone and every animal who didn't get on the ark? That sounds very complicated.
God is the simplest explaination? I assume you can explain how a being can exist outside time? Or be everywhere at once?
Hell, I'll award you a toffee apple if you can even get as far as explaining time.
If you're going to use a razor to commit intellectual suicide, remember that you properly cut from wrist to elbow, not across the wrist. That's very important, because nothing says pathetic like failing to commit suicide.
Unless it's being a fundtard in the first place.
@practical_god: Actually, "Ockham" is a spelling - either "Ockham" or "Occam" suffices.
Anyway, this idiot has the lowest grasp of the Razor I've ever seen.
Event + attribution to supernatural and fictitious deity of choice > Event.
FAIL!
Ockham's razor applies to the number of entities, not the complexity of the truth. Just because you cannot understand reality, it doesn't mean fairy tales are true because they're simpler -- or more accurately, for simpletons!
You are correct. Assuming that an omnipotent and inobservable god created everything is by far the simplest way of looking at things, and makes far more testable predictions than any other theory. I mean, what better prediction can be made than "stuff happens?" No matter what happens, your prediction comes true!
Actually, Evolution by means of Natural Selection requires fewer assumptions, and makes more testable predictions than does the theory of divine intervention. Try harder next time.
Right! And the simplest explanation for my not falling off the Earth is that it's flat! and the simplest explanation for the Apollo moon landing pictures is that they were fakes!
Occam's razor can be over-applied.
God is not the simplest answer, just the easiest one.
The simplest answer for the state of humanity is that humanity, as a whole, is stupid.
Let's see, big invisible guy in the sky zapped everything into existance. Nope, not quite dude. See, the explinations have to be PLAUSABLE for Occam's Razor to apply.
Its easy to say, oh, God did it. But that isn't the simplest way at all. in order for god to be omnipotent and omniscient, he'd have to be the most complex thing in existence, which implies nothing of simplicity. Furthermore, there is no mechanism for which god to create the universe out of nothing.
Occam's Razor slits Pascal's Wager up a treat (think that scene* from the Quentin Tarantino film "Reservoir Dogs", but metaphorically - and far worse). Besides...:
'Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.'
-Marcus Aurelius
Seems this ancient Roman won the bet before Pascal had even been born to make his 'Wager'...! [/smartarse]
*- I can never listen to the Stealers Wheel tune "Stuck In The Middle With You" in the same way again.
Now explain god and how, specifically, he works, in some way that distinguishes it from "magic" or "sorcery" or "imaginary". See, it isn't so simple after all.
Ockham's Razor refers to the simplest explanation that makes sense, not to the shortest number of words.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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