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Abstract

This article is derived from an email conversation with Distinguished Professor Jack Copeland of the University of Canterbury Department of Philosophy which is documented in a previous article.

What is Occam's razor?

Occam's razor is the principle that the simplest theory that explains a physical phenomenon is the best one. When considering two alternative theories that both explain some physical phenomenon, one should prefer the one that the simplest.

Carl Sagan’s attack on the existence of a God

Carl Sagan once said: If you believe God exists then a natural question to ask is what greated God? To which the christian will reply God is just there,nothing created him. To which the atheist will reply If God is just there,why can't we use Occam’s razor to prove that there is no God and the Universe is just there,nothing created it. However Occam’s razor can be used to prove there is no objective reality, just sensory information, a position which is obviously erroneous. Therefore Carl Sagan’s appeal to Occam’s razor to prove there is no God is fundamentally flawed.

The belief in an afterlife

I believe that people will experience an afterlife in the form of Artificially Intelligent robots whose cognitive faculties will vastly expand over our current level of cognition.

My father’s advice to me about theists and atheists

My father once told me that atheists are just as arrogant as theists in their believe that there is no god. I agree with him, and to me the most sensible position to take is to be an agnostic.

This argument can be generalised

More generally, Occam's razor cannot be used to prove anything, since if we allow Occam's razor to be used to prove something then Occam's razor can be also used to prove there is no objective reality, only sensory information, a proposition that is manifestly false.