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Ockham's Razor And Cosmological Argument

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Faith is the root of many actions and thereby reactions in our society, and world today. These religious practices must go through many trials and questionings from the always cynical, ever searching individuals. Due to the questioning of God’s existence, St. Thomas Aquinas and Anselm devised three arguments as was of explanation for His existence. Ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments are put forth to hopefully one day prove God’s existence. We are a people who crave for simplicity, there is nothing simple about the devout in their faith, we will look to find simpler explanations, or Ockham’s razor, for the three arguments put forth by Aquinas and Anselm. Understanding Ockham’s razor, and the three arguments is essential before seeing if seeing if the three arguments can be simplified and will finally lead to better understand a religious person’s acceptance of faith, and all it encompasses. Ockham’s razor is a principle set forth in the fourteenth century by William of Ockham stating, that “what can be done with fewer [terms] is done in vain with more” (Palmer, 76). Simply put, the best answer is the simplest one. The idea of keeping things simple, don’t over complicate that which doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. In the Twenty century Christopher Peacocke’s Complexity Reduction …show more content…

The complexities inherent with any mention of a higher being to explain any natural phenomenon goes against the principles of Ockham’s razor as a simplifying argument. Ockham’s razor is used successfully throughout history to simplify complex observable ideas. The unobservable, abstract ideas are not always as easily explained using Ockham’s razor. God is inherently a complex, abstract idea. For this reason, ontological argument, cosmological argument, and teleological arguments are immune from the ability to be over simplified using the application of Ockham’s

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In addition, Ockham’s razor also puts the burden on the theist because an atheist accepts the world as it is whereas a theist brings in the idea of a God on top of the natural world. In short, Craig’s stance required more work and he fell

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