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A question for athiests

Eudaimonist

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Just out of curiosity, if you don't believe that God is real, what do you believe governs reality? What's your theory? What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

I don't believe that any privileged entity "governs" other entities. Entities do what they do because they are what they are, existing in the relations that they do with other entities. The nature of an entity is perhaps best thought of as "internal" to that entity, keeping in mind that it is influenced by other entities due to their various relationships. That's just a visual metaphor, though.


eudaimonia,

Mark
 
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cantata

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Just out of curiosity, if you don't believe that God is real, what do you believe governs reality? What's your theory? What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

"Governs reality"? What exactly do you mean by that? The anthropic principle is your friend here. Stuff like the laws of physics just are how they are. If they weren't, you wouldn't be here to wonder about it, would you? It's pretty meaningless to say that they could have been any different.

To quote Bertie Russell:

I should say that the universe is just there, and that's all.
 
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Eudaimonist

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What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

I wonder if it has occurred to you that your question implies an infinite regress of explanations? If some one entity is thought to determine the rules for other entities, then what is it that determines the "rules" of that master entity? And the master of that master entity? And so on, and so on?

If you end up concluding that a special exception stops that chain of explanations, you might as well stop the chain before you begin.


eudaimonia,

Mark
 
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us38

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Just out of curiosity, if you don't believe that God is real, what do you believe governs reality? What's your theory? What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

In the beginning, Eris created the other gods. She wouldn't have if she had known that they'd take her credit for the whole ordeal. Eris then created the universe (this generally considered to be a bad idea). This all actually happened last Thursday, but Eris, being the goddess of chaos, decided to make it look 13.7 billion years old. And the rest, as they say, is history.
 
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cantata

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In the beginning, Eris created the other gods. She wouldn't have if she had known that they'd take her credit for the whole ordeal. Eris then created the universe (this generally considered to be a bad idea). This all actually happened last Thursday, but Eris, being the goddess of chaos, decided to make it look 13.7 billion years old. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Eris was a doll. That whole golden apple thing? Genius.
 
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Sojourner<><

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"Governs reality"? What exactly do you mean by that? The anthropic principle is your friend here. Stuff like the laws of physics just are how they are. If they weren't, you wouldn't be here to wonder about it, would you? It's pretty meaningless to say that they could have been any different.

To quote Bertie Russell:

What I mean is what is the cause behind the effect? I'm not expecting anyone to have an answer, I just want to know what you think about it. What do you think the physical laws are?
 
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cantata

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What I mean is what is the cause behind the effect? I'm not expecting anyone to have an answer, I just want to know what you think about it. What do you think the physical laws are?

I don't think a cause is necessary! Things are as they are. What effect are you talking about here, anyway?

Physical laws come down to the way that different forces behave, such as gravity and the forces that hold atomic particles together. I'm not a physicist, so I can't be much more explicit than that.
 
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JGL53

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Just out of curiosity, if you don't believe that God is real, what do you believe governs reality? What's your theory? What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

The "rules" and "architecture" of which you speak are descriptive, i.e., just an indication of what is, what is observed.

To believe the universe as a "thing" that was caused as an intentional act by an invisible immaterial super-powerful conscious being or person is an assumption that seems a baseless absurdity. Atheists are those who understand this - theists are those who don't.

And, by the way, please learn to spell "atheist". I have finally gotten over my use of the malapropism "Christinsanity". I think you should return the favor.
 
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David Gould

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Something must be a brute fact - ie, it must exist for no reason. That might be 'God'. Or it might be 'the universe'. Or it might be something else. At the moment, we have evidence for the existence of the universe. We are lacking same for God. Thus, it would appear that the most likely explanation is that the universe is the brute fact.
 
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Mumbles

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Just out of curiosity, if you don't believe that God is real, what do you believe governs reality? What's your theory? What is it that determines the rules of physics, the architecture of everything that is?

I don't have a theory, or feel any real need for one. And actually, i have no real reason to believed that reality could haver possibly been any different, and so no need to come up with anything to "govern" it.

But regardless, lemme ask you the same question - what governs the reality of your god, makes him capable of governing the universe, and so forth?
 
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David Gould

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The problem is in the whole 'governs reality' idea. What if nothing governs it, and reality simply is?

As I said in an earlier post, we can see rules governing behaviour within the universe; there is no evidence of rules governing the behaviour of the universe as a whole.
 
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cantata

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The problem is in the whole 'governs reality' idea. What if nothing governs it, and reality simply is?

Agreed, the OP begs the question. Also, I still don't really know what is meant by "governs reality".
 
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