Abstract
In discussions about the existence of God, it is sometimes claimed that the progress of science has removed the need for God. This paper uses a Bayesian analysis of Ockham’s razor to formulate and evaluate this argument, which is referred to as the science explains away God argument (SEAGA). Four different strategies for responding to this argument are presented and evaluated. It is arguedthat one of these strategies highlights how difficult it is to show that the conditions for applying Ockham’s razor are satisfied and hence why SEAGA is very unlikely to succeed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1145-1161 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Philosophical Studies |
Volume | 174 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 20 Jul 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - May 2017 |
Keywords
- Explaining away
- Ockham’s razor
- Bayesian reasoning
- Atheism