Duvel is good stuff. I used to imbibe it on day-trips to Brugge/Bruges. At least, I think I did, and I think it was good.

Have you tried Chimay? I had some of that this past week.

Damned good stuff too. In my neck of the woods (not quite as picturesque as Brugge, but close enough) every drinkery serves Belgian brews (some places quite literally hundreds of different brands, it's amazing). Hmmm, while I write this an email is coming in with subject "Your insatiable chick will be full of pleasure!" It's true of course but how did the sender know this? Could it be that God sent me an email?

I blame it on last night's Belgian beer. Just 4 bottles of Duvel is all it takes.

Duvel is good stuff. I used to imbibe it on day-trips to Brugge/Bruges. At least, I think I did, and I think it was good.:shock:

Have you tried Chimay? I had some of that this past week.

Are you calling yourself a deluded crackpot? Surely you mean your neurons resemble a cracked pot?

I wasn't calling myself a deluded crackpot. That would be silly. But my neurons do feel like a cracked pot at this time. I blame it on last night's Belgian beer. Just 4 bottles of Duvel is all it takes.

Just by giving a simple meaningless name to a complex phenomenon doesn't make it simple.

What makes you think that the phenomenon of willing is complex? Don't you will your actions just by willing them, using your capacity for willing, rather than identifying and instructing your inner morons, sorry, neurons to begin certain specified mechanical operations?

Only the deluded can believe such crackpottery.

Are you calling yourself a deluded crackpot? Surely you mean your neurons resemble a cracked pot?

Why is that "simpler" I'd argue that it makes things far more complex, because now we have to account for a whole range of attributes in strictly physical (i.e. material) terms. I find that far more complex than the simple concept that every living human has a soul.

Just by giving a simple meaningless name to a complex phenomenon doesn't make it simple. Only the deluded can believe such crackpottery.

Why is that "simpler"

Because it's easier for dims to understand.

When I say 'understand', what I mean is that it's easier for dim brains to process inputs which mechanically produce material expressions of outputs in the class of outputs that include the terms "I UNDERSTAND", where 'class' refers to all outputs that include the term, "CLASS".

Uh oh. We seem to have a self-referential thingie here. Just how do material entities refer to themselves?

Ockham's Razor is particularly pertinent to the topic of this thread. The idea that we are strictly physical beings is simpler than the idea that we possess both bodies and immaterial souls.

Why is that "simpler" I'd argue that it makes things far more complex, because now we have to account for a whole range of attributes in strictly physical (i.e. material) terms. I find that far more complex than the simple concept that every living human has a soul.

"entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity"

It is a simple, but important concept in logic. Occam was focused on NECESSITY not simplicity.

If either a simple or complex suggestion doesn't answer the question, it is discarded before applying Occam's razor.

Occam's razor is then applied to assumptions of successful suggestions that are UNNECESSARY to answer the question.

For example…

Burning wood generates heat because of rapid oxidation and it is yellow in color.

This nominally answers the question of why fire is hot but the yellow color is an unnecessary assumption. Occam's razor cuts it off.

Not because it makes the answer simpler, but because the assumption was unnecessary.

Occam says nothing about choosing between a simple "The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" and a very complicated quantum mechanical and evolutionary explaination.

They are both answers. However, Occam would have something to say about presuming the existance of unnecessary angels as an additional assumption for either suggestion.