Do you buy into occams razor?

Question

Did this complex universe come into existence by a creator or did it just create itself?

I am not trying to use occams razor to prove or disprove theological doctrine. Questioning whether or not the universe has evidence of design is not doctrine.

There are two fundalmental beliefs, one is that the universe came to fruition by accident or some intellegent being designed and created it. It seems to me the latter is a more "simple" explanation.

Answer 1

Occam's razor can be used to prove both creationism and scientific origins. And neither is a sound proof.

Occam's razor doesnt have anything to do with the origins of our world...

It only has to do with probabilities for likely solutions... and how we should direct our attention... in order to ultimately prove or disprove a given theory.

All Occam's razor says is "hey, this solution / explanation is the most likely one to be true..." From there all other possibilities are -not- arbitrarily discounted... but merely placed on the back burner. Focus is placed on the one likely theory until its either proven or disproven.

Occam's razor can show that it is simpler, and therefore more likely, that a creator spawned existence... but it can also be used to show that the simplicity of the elements of physical nature without divine influence is more reasonable.

Either way, Occam's razor is insufficient of a proof when it comes to the origins of the universe in theology. Nor does it eliminate any answer... only emphasis the likelyhood of some.

Answer 2

CogitoErgoCogitoSum was right in everything except his third paragraph in which crashed and burned (which makes me guess he doesn't understand the heuristic).

He was right in stating that it doesn't prove anything. Still, the rule of thumb is that we should be parsimonious in our selections. That is, we should postulate no less than is sufficient and no more than is necessary.

Infinite regress is the problem here--if God created the universe, who created God (and then who created that of course). The parsimonious answer is that the universe has always existed because assuming that both answers are equally explanatory (as this question does assume or it would not have been asked), our choices are an infinite universe or a finite universe created by an infinite God. Occam's Razor would allow us to remove the superfluous entity that adds no explanation (as is assumed in the question), and leaves us with an eternal universe.

However, if God is made to be explanatory and not merely a "First Cause" (i.e. through claims of intelligent design, the "fine-tuned universe" argument, etc.), Occam's Razor fails to be useful until those issues are dealt with.

If the "First Cause" argument is the only put forth though, Occam's Razor deals with it rather plainly.

Answer 3

Those are two separate questions, though OCKHAM said that "no theological doctrines...are evident or demonstrable philosophically, so that religious doctrine rests soley on faith, without metaphysical or scientific proof." [1] Don't forget, William Ockham was a Fransiscan, so he believed in God.
"Ockhams razor" simply means that "entities [of theoretical proofs] should not be multiplied beyond necessity." [2] This is reasonable--why include all the things that have no possibliity of being a proof?

Answer 4

Yes. The universe has always been around in one form or another. I also believe in God.

Occam was just trying to say that if you have something very complex and something very simple to describe the same thing equally well, then it makes sense to use the simple one.

I believe in God because that is the simpliest explaination for some things.

Answer 5

I think it's an attempt to generalize, and that is a tricky thing when one is considering the millions of subjective problems and situations that exist in the lives of each individual.

Answer 6

I don't shave. :)

I think the premise - given two possible answers to a question or a dilemma, the simpler one is more likely to be correct - is a sound rule of thumb and a fairly good idea.

Answer 7

I do think that many times the simplest explanation is the most likely. But I do not think it's an absolute truth.

Answer 8

well in some sense it has to be true. I would say in most every event that has ever happened there is only one ultimate explanation, in which case it would have to be the simplest, being that it is the only explanation.

Answer 9

in most cases, occam's razor is applicable. are there some exceptions, though? of course. i tend to look at murphy's laws rather than occam's razor.

Answer 10

Yes. God did create the universe