Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 23:08:08 -0400 From: Joshua Lee <yid@softhome.net> To: "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <20020904230808.4c76a744.yid@softhome.net> In-Reply-To: <20020904154209.D13440-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan> References: <20020904085636.2fcba73c.yid@softhome.net> <20020904154209.D13440-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan>
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On Wed, 4 Sep 2002 15:43:58 -0700 (PDT) "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com> wrote: > > > > Terry, William of Occam was a theist. ;-) > > > > > > My uncle, who is names on the patent for microwave ovens, still > > > to this day refuses to have one in his house... your point is? > > > > That it's fairly odd to quote a Franciscan Friar in favor of > > atheism, albeit one that rejected the utility of Medieval scholastic > > proofs in favor of revelation. > > It's because if you supply your own definition of "simple", Occam's > razor can be used to prove anything. No, it cannot be used to prove *anything*; only that which may be reduced to definitions and terms consistent with simplicity and complexity, with the former affirmed and the latter rejected. That having been said, it was a fairly strong early argument against medieval scholasticism. (The only answer the Catholic church seemed to have for it and other arguments against scholasticism was to declare Thomism sacrosanct; until Vatican II partially reversed this position.) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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