On his blog, Edward Feser argues that it is illegitimate to think of God as a hypothesis (Edward Feser: Is God’s existence a “hypothesis”?) I disagree. To begin, it is important to attend to what Feser means by "hypothesis." He adopts the following definitions, which he sees as being complementary to one another:
Hypothesis:
- [A] conditional or provisional explanation of observed facts or of their connection with each other; a tentative explanation suggestive of further experiment and verification.
- As used in the natural sciences, a predictive judgment about an empirical event that will occur under a describable set of conditions. (Hypotheses are sometimes generated by more general theories; if the predicted events in fact occur, the hypotheses are said to be confirmed, and this in turn provides additional rational support for the theories in question.)
