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Re: [ontolog-forum] Dennett on the Darwinism of Memes

To: "'[ontolog-forum] '" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Matthew West" <dr.matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:47:40 +0100
Message-id: <5178edaa.344ab40a.10e7.665e@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear Pat,    (01)

> The basic scientific argument against the existence of God is that there
is
> absolutely no observational evidence for the existence of a God, nor any
> reason to hypothesise such an entity in order to explain anything that is
> observable. 
> A very straightforward application of Occam's principle then
> suffices. Of course this is not a *proof*, but it is a sound *scientific*
> argument.    (02)

MW: That is not a scientific argument. If it were, we should not have
thought the Higgs Boson was a possibility until very recently, and we should
not be talking about dark matter.    (03)

MW: All one can say scientifically is that the existence of God is a
hypothesis that it is unlikely that we will ever be able to prove or
disprove scientifically, because there is no experiment that we can conduct
(or at least I cannot think of any) that would prove or disprove the
hypothesis. (Of course you can always set up God hypothesises that you can
disprove, but they are not generally ones the "faithful" actually believe
in).    (04)

> Proofs are irrelevant here. There is no proof that the flying
> spaghetti monster does not exist, but that does not shake the faith of the
> true Pastafarian.    (05)

MW: And that is the essence. It is a matter of faith, not science. So any
scientific argument is irrelevant. Irritating though that may be to those
who believe only in science.    (06)

Regards    (07)

Matthew West                            
Information  Junction
Tel: +44 1489 880185
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This email originates from Information Junction Ltd. Registered in England
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Registered office: 8 Ennismore Close, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire,
SG6 2SU.    (08)


> 
> Pat
> 
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