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Jennifer · 13 Jan 2004, 02:01

No one is assuming God exists.

You can throw Occam's Razor at anything, to demonstrate anything, if you throw it the right way. I thoroughly despise the notion of Occam's Razor, because of the way it is abused. You CAN'T apply it in situations like this because the non-existence of God has very definite consequences that by Occam's Razor you should assume don't happen because there's no evidence for them. They are only required because you have assumed something else doesn't exist. You'll get yourself into all sorts of stupid messes if you start applying philosophical notions blindly like that.

You can say that we don't include God in our model of the universe because there's no need for it. That's fine. You can't include the non-existence of God and all the associated consequences of that in your model of the universe because there is no evidence for that either.

13 Jan 2004, 02:01	#82
Jennifer Destroyer of Worlds Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 552	Re: how many people.... No one is assuming God exists. You can throw Occam's Razor at anything, to demonstrate anything, if you throw it the right way. I thoroughly despise the notion of Occam's Razor, because of the way it is abused. You CAN'T apply it in situations like this because the non-existence of God has very definite consequences that by Occam's Razor you should assume don't happen because there's no evidence for them. They are only required because you have assumed something else doesn't exist. You'll get yourself into all sorts of stupid messes if you start applying philosophical notions blindly like that. You can say that we don't include God in our model of the universe because there's no need for it. That's fine. You can't include the non-existence of God and all the associated consequences of that in your model of the universe because there is no evidence for that either. __________________ “In spite of the roaring of the young lions at the Union, and the screaming of the rabbits in the home of the vivisect, in spite of Keble College, and the tramways, and the sporting prints, Oxford still remains the most beautiful thing in England, and nowhere else are life and art so exquisitely blended, so perfectly made one.”