God and Ockhams Razor By Anthony J. Faber Perpetual (C)Copyright (2011C.E.) By Anthony J. Fejfar and Neothomism, P.C.

(PA) and The People of God and the American People as a Perpetual Public Domain Copyright. Ockhams Razor is an epistemological filter developed by Sir William of Ockham, which essentially provides that in any academic, scientific, or legal theory or argument, the best theory or argument is one which makes the least amount of unreasonable assumptions. Unfortunately, some academics use a sort of rote list of things or topics that, in their view, cannot be discussed or written about. These academics typically state that Ockhams Razor bars any discussion or

academic writing regarding God. However, a seen below, these academics are sophmoric in their approach in the extreme in that they do actually apply Ockhams Razor in an analytic or logical analysis of the issue of talking or writing about God, instead they just parrot some ideological stance that is not well thought out. Therefore, let us take the issue of Gods Existence and see if Ockhams Razor really excludes any such discussions. Consider the following Proof for Gods Existence which is based on those Proofs of Aristotle and Thomas Aquanas: 1. When you observe billiard balls being hit on a billiards table, you can and do observe with first hand sense experience that causation exists in the finite material universe. Thus, a billiards cue stick and a persons hand and arm cause a billiard ball to move which in turn causes a second billiard ball to move when hit.

2. Given the foregoing, we can see and observe and theorize that for every effect there is a cause. In other words, the finite material universe is full of cause and effect relationships.

3. Since for every effect there is a preceding cause which caused the latter effect if we could observe the causal chain of events, moving from the effect to the prior cause, and then again from the effect of that cause to the prior cause of that effect, moving back, and so on, and so forth, it is apparent that we would have an infinite regress of effect to cause, and cause and effect, if that is possible. For you see, since for every effect there must have been a precedent cause, we would end up tracing back effect to cause forever, if that was possible.

4. However, since the material universe is finite, it is apparent that there cannot be an infinite series of cause and effect withing the finite material universe since, the finite, by definition, cannot contain the infinite.

5. Given that the finite material universe is full of various causal chains of cause and effect, and given the there cannot be an infinite chain of cause and effect within the finite material universe, it is logically necessary that there must have been a First Cause, Uncaused Cause, namely God, who started the first casual chain of cause and effect, thereby creating the finite material universe.

Since the foregoing Proof for Gods Existence starts with sense experience and proceeds with logical arguments, it is clear that the foregoing Proof for Gods Existence is not excluded by the operation of Ockhams Razor.