RE: Predeterminism and parallel universes

From: Glenn Morton (glennmorton@entouch.net)
Date: Wed Jul 09 2003 - 21:09:00 EDT

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    Jim, you wrote:

    -----Original Message-----
    From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
    Behalf Of Jim Armstrong
    Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 7:06 PM

    >I like the general line of thought here. I don't cotton to the MWH in part
    because it fails
    >to negotiate Occam's razor.

    I would suggest that this is a misuse of Occam. Occam's razor doesn't mean
    that the simplest universe is the most likely. It means 'given the fact at
    hand, the simplest explanation of those facts is the most likely.'

    And given the nature of this thread, it is interesting to look at Ockham's
    most famous rendition of his razor. It is "A plurality must not be asserted
    without necessity." A. C. Crombie, Medieval and Early Modern Science, Vo.
    II, (New York: Anchor Books, 1959,P. 30 (It is nice to have my philosophy
    books back.)

    At this point in history, without a test having been done, one can't assert
    the multiverse is true. But given evidence, MWH would not violate Ockham.



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