--- title: "7 Claims Quotes By Elliott Sober" description: "7 Claims quotes by Elliott Sober. Plus more from Elliott Sober and more Claims sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg" --- > [Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there is a restricted circumstance in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-theories-always-have-higher/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg) > [This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young Earth Creationism is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versions-of-theism-that-do/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/elliott-sober-13087_biology_this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versi_580183.jpg) > [It can be a necessary conceptual truth that pains are painful without this ruling out the physicalist thesis that immaterial minds are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-that-pains-are-painful-without/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/352/elliott-sober-13087_assuming_it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-t_1298713.jpg) > [Darwin repeatedly used the hypothesis of common ancestry as a platform on which to build his various ideas about testing hypotheses concerning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of-common-ancestry-as-a/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg) > [Deism claims that God creates the universe and the laws of nature and then is hands-off, with everything that subsequently happens in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-universe-and-the-laws-of-nature-and/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/elliott-sober-13087_claims_deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-univer_1405106.jpg) > [The indispensability argument seeks to assimilate the epistemology of metaphysical statements to the epistemology of statements that are obviously empirical. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-assimilate-the-epistemology-of/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b14/elliott-sober-13087_achieve_the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-a_1461527.jpg) > [The indispensability argument says (roughly) that if you have ample reason to accept an empirical scientific theory that makes indispensable use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-indispensability-argument-says-roughly-that-if-you-have-ample/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b66/elliott-sober-13087_accepting_the-indispensability-argument-says-rough_1648970.jpg) ## Other authors on Claims ## More by Elliott Sober > [From the fact that E is evidence for T and the fact that T entails M, it doesn't follow that E is evidence for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/from-the-fact-that-e-is-evidence-for-t-and-the-fact-that-t-entails-m/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Evolutionary game theory was originally developed as an alternative to the hypothesis of group selection; now it is clear that game theory models postulate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/evolutionary-game-theory-was-originally-developed-as-an-alternative/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there is a restricted circumstance in which the claim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-theories-always-have-higher/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > ["Methodological naturalism" and "metaphysical naturalism" are terms that often surface in the continuing battle between evolutionary biology and creationism/intelligent design. The methodological thesis says…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/methodological-naturalism-and-metaphysical-naturalism-are-terms-that/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [The big picture, I think, is that common ancestry is evidentially prior to natural selection in Darwin's theory and in contemporary evolutionary biology as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-big-picture-i-think-is-that-common-ancestry-is-evidentially-prior/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young Earth Creationism is an example; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versions-of-theism-that-do/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Some philosophical arguments (e.g., in connection with the mind/body problem) look pretty good, while others (e.g., those that criticize moral realism) do not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/some-philosophical-arguments-e-g-in-connection-with-the-mind-body/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [I have spent a lot of time arguing that the theory of group selection is not the stupid, pernicious doctrine that many biologists once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/i-have-spent-a-lot-of-time-arguing-that-the-theory-of-group-selection/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Deism is compatible with evolutionary theory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/deism-is-compatible-with-evolutionary-theory/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > ["Simpler is always better" is an overstatement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/simpler-is-always-better-is-an-overstatement/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Group selection and individual selection are just two of the selection processes that have played important roles in evolution. There also is selection within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/group-selection-and-individual-selection-are-just-two-of-the/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Instead of thinking of the question of race genealogically, and leaving it open whether vernacular races are genealogical units, the interest in biomedicine has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/instead-of-thinking-of-the-question-of-race-genealogically-and/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [If the organisms in a species now have trait T, and this trait now helps those organisms to survive and reproduce because the trait…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/if-the-organisms-in-a-species-now-have-trait-t-and-this-trait-now/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Another way to test hypotheses about adaptation is to consider trait variation across a group of species instead of focusing on the trait of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/another-way-to-test-hypotheses-about-adaptation-is-to-consider-trait/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [Evolutionary theory, properly understood, does not conflict with the idea that God occasionally intervenes in nature - for example, by once or twice causing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/evolutionary-theory-properly-understood-does-not-conflict-with-the/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claims/elliott-sober/#itemlist", "name": "7 Claims Quotes By Elliott Sober", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there is a restricted circumstance in which the claim is right.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-theories-always-have-higher/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young Earth Creationism is an example; it claims that God created life on earth within the past 10,000 to 50,000 years. But other types of theism are different.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versions-of-theism-that-do/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/elliott-sober-13087_biology_this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versi_580183.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/elliott-sober-13087_biology_this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versi_580183.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/elliott-sober-13087_biology_this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versi_580183.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It can be a necessary conceptual truth that pains are painful without this ruling out the physicalist thesis that immaterial minds are impossible or the thesis that conscious states supervene on physical states. The necessity involved in these claims is nomological necessity, not metaphysical necessity (assuming that these are different).", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-that-pains-are-painful-without/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/352/elliott-sober-13087_assuming_it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-t_1298713.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/352/elliott-sober-13087_assuming_it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-t_1298713.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/352/elliott-sober-13087_assuming_it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-t_1298713.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It can be a necessary conceptual truth that pains are painful without this ruling out the physicalist thesis…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Darwin repeatedly used the hypothesis of common ancestry as a platform on which to build his various ideas about testing hypotheses concerning natural selection. He also argued that adaptive similarities provide little or no evidence for common ancestry. Although this second claim needs to be fine-tuned, Darwin was right that ample evidence for common ancestry can exist even if none of the characteristics we observe were caused to evolve by natural selection.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of-common-ancestry-as-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Darwin repeatedly used the hypothesis of common ancestry as a platform on which to build his various ideas…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Deism claims that God creates the universe and the laws of nature and then is hands-off, with everything that subsequently happens in nature being due to natural processes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-universe-and-the-laws-of-nature-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/elliott-sober-13087_claims_deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-univer_1405106.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/elliott-sober-13087_claims_deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-univer_1405106.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/elliott-sober-13087_claims_deism-claims-that-god-creates-the-univer_1405106.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Deism claims that God creates the universe and the laws of nature and then is hands-off, with everything…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The indispensability argument seeks to assimilate the epistemology of metaphysical statements to the epistemology of statements that are obviously empirical. I think it fails to achieve this goal. The argument does not refute the Carnapian thesis that scientific theories and metaphysical claims differ epistemologically - observations can provide evidence for the former, but not for the latter.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-assimilate-the-epistemology-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b14/elliott-sober-13087_achieve_the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-a_1461527.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b14/elliott-sober-13087_achieve_the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-a_1461527.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b14/elliott-sober-13087_achieve_the-indispensability-argument-seeks-to-a_1461527.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The indispensability argument seeks to assimilate the epistemology of metaphysical statements to the…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The indispensability argument says (roughly) that if you have ample reason to accept an empirical scientific theory that makes indispensable use of mathematics, and that theory entails that numbers exist, then you have ample reason to accept that numbers exist. The argument affirms the antecedent of this conditional, and concludes that you have ample reason to believe that numbers exist. What is striking about this argument is that it seems to show that the empirical reasons that suffice for accepting a scientific theory also suffice for accepting a metaphysical claim.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliott Sober" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-indispensability-argument-says-roughly-that-if-you-have-ample/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b66/elliott-sober-13087_accepting_the-indispensability-argument-says-rough_1648970.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b66/elliott-sober-13087_accepting_the-indispensability-argument-says-rough_1648970.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b66/elliott-sober-13087_accepting_the-indispensability-argument-says-rough_1648970.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The indispensability argument says (roughly) that if you have ample reason to accept an empirical scientific…” — Elliott Sober", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claims/elliott-sober/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claims/elliott-sober/", "name": "Claims Quotes by Elliott Sober", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claims/elliott-sober/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/elliott-sober-13087_circumstances_earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-th_268237.jpg" }, "description": "7 Claims quotes by Elliott Sober. 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