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Originally Posted by KnifeMissile
I don't mean to single you out, willravel, since you're not the only one who seems to have little understanding of parsimony but... Good God! "If you want a real, reliable answer it falls flat?" What on God's green Earth is that supposed to mean?
Parsimony, the actual name for the principle now commonly expressed by that stupid phrase made popular only by that stupid movie, is a philosophy of pragmatism. The simplest explanation with the requisite properties is the prefered one because... it is the simplest! In other words, why needlessly complicate your life with theories more complex than they need be.
In other words, if you have two theories with equal explanatory power, you should prefer the simpler one because it will make life easier. Is it more "true?" Well, what is truth? They have the same explanatory power so they're both equally true. So, your only decision is whether you want to live an easy life or a hard life. Most of us don't need life to be any harder than it already is. In regards to science, the subject appears to already be too complicated for the minds of most people without needlessly complicating it with non-parsimonious theories! |
Not addressed to me, but meh.
The principle of Parsimony is excellent for informing a bias, but does not provide anything concrete. As willravel noted, it's not a scientific principle but rather a philosophical one. In some cases it can be useful, but in a situation where there's little to no data to begin with it doesn't really tell us anything. One could argue that atheistic viewpoints tend to be less complex than theistic ones and are therefore more probable, but with no evidence it's impossible to draw any conclusions on the matter.
There is no law, principle or hypothesis that can be used to prove or disprove religious beliefs of any nature. Such is the nature of religion.
Also, Contact the novel is much better than Contact the movie.
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Originally Posted by filtherton
Want to join my apatheist movement?
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I'm pretty sure the adjective form of apathy is apathetic, which would by extension mean that your movement would be more properly named apatheticism. I'd get out a dictionary to double-check this myself, but if 'm honest I just don't care.
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Originally Posted by roachboy
for example, if you adopt a premise based on a god-character, it generally follows that human beings do not create meanings, but rather that they find them. there are significant political consequences that follow from this.
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That's a fun premise, and certainly not one I'd argue with. Determinism, anyone?