Who is your favourite atheist?

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Permalink Reply by Sayed Iman Rafizadeh on September 12, 2012 at 12:43

@James...

you are absolutely right, Nietzsche should be on top.

He says in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "Who is more godless than I, that I may enjoy his teaching?"

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on September 13, 2012 at 13:33

My escape from theism was based on Occam's Razor, but William of Occam was a Franciscan Friar. So he can't be my "favorite atheist."

Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on September 13, 2012 at 14:24

The tool is still valuable, no matter who the creator was!

In The Meme Machine Susan Blackmore points out that ideas don't often depend on a lone genius; when a particular synthesis is "ripe", if one person doesn't introduce it, chances are someone else would before too long.

Charles Darwin wasn't the only one to propose evolution by natural selection. Thomas Edison received his light bulb patent a year after Joseph Swan's British patent.

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on September 13, 2012 at 14:55

Gosh! this site has wise, wonderful writers and philosophers!

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on September 13, 2012 at 15:02

I used to teach Occam's Razor as a part of maintenance class. The problem with complex systems is that people too often automatically think they have to have complex solutions to their problems. WRONG! Is it plugged in (once, believe it or not, it WASN'T!)? Is it turned on? Are the cables all seated?

The simple stuff makes a difference, and William of Occam was smart enough to see that.

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on September 13, 2012 at 15:32

Great principle

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on September 13, 2012 at 15:52

Simple solutions are extremely appealing. However, complex problems often require less appealing and more cumbersome complex solutions. "Black and white" judgments make life simple, but certainly not better.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on September 13, 2012 at 21:41

Which is why I taught: Check the SIMPLE STUFF FIRST ... THEN if that doesn't work, break out the more complex models of what might have gone wrong. It's astonishing how frequently this technique works on mechanical or electrical / electronic systems.

On Homo sapiens? Not so much...

Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on September 13, 2012 at 21:58

"Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler."

(attributed to Albert Einstein)

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on September 14, 2012 at 3:05

True nuff... I imagine.... I have a mechanical LD

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on September 15, 2012 at 23:50

Once, my printer wasn't working. I called my son in Denver for advice and the first thing he asked, "Did you put paper in the hopper?" Insulted, I assured him that was not the problem ... it WAS the problem. Occam's Razor makes a difference.

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on September 13, 2012 at 15:31