Adequate Explanations for the Special Order of Life
Adequate explanations for explaining the special order of life of a strictly supernatural being are clearly missing. Humanity does not perceive the existence of God through feeling, nor does it think of God as an imaginary entity. Thus, both physical and spatial-temporal entities and non-spatial-temporal entities may be assimilated as abstract entities. If God really exists, so obviously God can be non-spatiotemporal instead of being non-abstract. Inventing a whole new category exclusively for the preservation of the presence of God in the applied ontology seems to be unwarranted in view of the inability of the interpretation of God to conform with the Explanatory Necessity Criteria of Razor Principal. I will present my stance by first talking about the Razor concept of Ockham, second, turning to ascertain whether this concept works against the three theistic arguments by Aquinas and Anselm, and third, reflecting on the claim by Palmer.
Ockham's Razor - The Simplest Answer Often is Correct
Ockham's razor basically is the ideology that in any attempt to comprehend something, eliminating the unnecessary information is actually the fastest way of getting the best explanation or the truth. He remarked, "What can be done with fewer terms is done in vain with more" (Palmer 76). More commonly, Ockham's razor is expressed to mean the simplest answer often is correct. This simply means that entities ought not to be needless multiplied when seeking information. The researchers need to avoid any stacking information in proving a theory if an explanation that is simpler fits the observation. In theology, the razor concept is employed in proving or disapproving God's existence. Ockham, a Christian friar, employed his theory in defending his religion. In fact, he regarded the Bible as true using the little sense thereby, seeing it as the simple proof. The scripture was synonymous, according to Ockham, with reality and thus, contradicting it will result in the confliction of the established fact. A number of religious individuals regarded God's existence to be the simplest explanation possible for the universe creation. Ockham, further, argues that natural theology typically is impossible. This is because natural theology employs reason alone in understanding Abraham's God which is in contrast with the revealed theology founded upon the biblical revelations. The idea of Abraham's God, according to Ockham, is not developed by evident reasoning or evident experience. All that is known regarding Abraham's God is from revelation. Therefore, the establishment of all theology is faith. It is imperative to note that while other individuals may apply the razor in eliminating the whole spiritual world, Ockham never applied the parsimony principle to the faith articles.
Theistic Arguments by Aquinas and Anselm
Turning to the three theistic arguments by Anselm and Aquinas, it is quite clear that the razor principle worked in contrast to these arguments. While Ockham used the razor concept to justify the necessity of eliminating unnecessary information in understanding God's existence, Thomas Aquinas employed the Summa theological to argue for atheism as the logical concept and not the contradiction of the accepted beliefs. Aquinas observed "it is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many" (Arp). For him, he took into consideration God's existence as a hypothesis that draws an enormous number of assumptions that are compared to the scientific alternatives. This theistic argument can be made simpler by using Ockham's razor. This concept will eliminate the hypotheses associated with this argument and make it simpler. A number of modern atheists, particularly regard God's existence as unnecessary complex following the non-existence of empirical evidence.
The ontological argument by Anselm that God's existence can be derived from the theory of "a being than which no greater can be conceived" contrasts the razor concept. Anselm thought that if this being does not exist then there is a greater being, namely "a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which exists can be conceived" (HEGEL). This theistic argument by Anselm is absurd as it is grounded on premises. Accordingly, a being than which there is no greater, may be conceived. This argument can be made simpler by the razor principle by eliminating many of these assumptions.
Reflection on the Claim by Palmer
Reflecting on the claim by Palmer who observes, "it's as if the medievals were giving an account of themselves of the rational status of their belief—or their knowledge—of God" (Palmer 157), I think the proofs for the existence of God would be considered most critically at the moment when all belief in God's existence is based on man's sufferings as well as the non-ending of the world. A number of individuals who believe that God exists sometimes wonder why a God who is all-powerful and all-good permits immense evils or sufferings to happen. Also, in society, the believers are the one who is affected most by the sufferings of this world. Similarly, other individuals question the ever-ending of the world despite their belief in the existence of God. All these aspects reduce the spirit of them in believing in the existence of God who is powerful, who should not allow evils to happen. Proving God's existence will help in restoring the spirit.
In conclusion, it is evident that inventing a whole new category merely for maintaining the existence of God in the applied ontology appears unwarranted in respect to the failure of perception of God in meeting the explanatory requirement criterion of the razor principle by Ockham. This can be attributed to the fact that these arguments, especially the arguments by the atheists, are built on assumptions and hypotheses that make it cumbersome to understand their justification. The ontological arguments by Anselm and Aquinas are based on hypotheses and assumptions that make their logic absurd. Accordingly, the razor concept can simplify these concepts by eliminating unnecessary assumptions or information.
Work Cited
Arp, Robert. Revisiting Aquinas' Proofs for the Existence of God. Print.
HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH. LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, TOGETHER WITH A WORK ON THE PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF... GOD, [S.l.]: FORGOTTEN BOOKS, 2015. Print.
Palmer, Michael F. Philosophy of Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Print.
