(April 26, 2016 at 3:23 pm)Constable Dorfl Wrote:(April 26, 2016 at 1:39 pm)wiploc Wrote: - If things can happen without causes, then we have no need of a creator god. "The universe just happened" is every bit as good an explanation as "My god exists without cause."
It's better, because it passes William of Ockham's doctrine of least causes. A universe uncreated by god has less explaining to do than a one created by god (that's assuming that in all other ways both possibilities are equally likely, which is preposterous given our knowledge of the world).
Occam's razor does not apply unless you know the explanation of the universe. What "knowledge of the world" supports a universe without a beginning? Don't be sucked in by vague phrases like "asking what was before makes no sense because there was not time". Again, that is a metaphysical statement being made--not a scientific statement.