RE: Anecdotal Evidence
December 6, 2016 at 5:35 pm
(This post was last modified: December 6, 2016 at 5:38 pm by bennyboy.)
About Occam's razor:
There must be caveats. One is that the idea being proposed is a good explanation. The simplest answer to EVERY question would be "Goddidit" or "physicsdidit." But these general claims aren't very good explanations for specific questions, like "Why is the sky blue?" or "What is gravity?"
In difficult philosophical questions, like why does something exist rather than nothing, we have a problem. While "Goddidit" isn't very satisfying to non-theists, there really isn't, and probably can't be, a better explanation, and the only simpler explanation is to refuse to explain: to posit reality as a brute fact.
There must be caveats. One is that the idea being proposed is a good explanation. The simplest answer to EVERY question would be "Goddidit" or "physicsdidit." But these general claims aren't very good explanations for specific questions, like "Why is the sky blue?" or "What is gravity?"
In difficult philosophical questions, like why does something exist rather than nothing, we have a problem. While "Goddidit" isn't very satisfying to non-theists, there really isn't, and probably can't be, a better explanation, and the only simpler explanation is to refuse to explain: to posit reality as a brute fact.
