An answer that explains everything explains nothing

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alitaptap said:
What does that statement mean?
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An explanation is an account of a cause. The best explanations give the most specific causes. Higher and more general causes have wider and more general effects. The higher and more general a cause is, the further removed it is from its ultimate effects. The further removed a cause is from its effects, the less understandable it is as an explanation.

The highest cause is God, the first cause of everything that exists. Hence invoking God as an explanation for a specific effect is so general and so remote as to be relatively meaningless.

For example, “Why is my WiFi not working?” “Because God made it that way.” “That tells me nothing.” “Okay, so your router is unplugged.”
 
An answer that** purports **to explain everything may well explain other things. Its inevitable incompleteness does not mean that it is necessarily uninformative…
 
How about Jesus’ answer to the astonished disciple’s question “Who then can be saved?”?

Jesus answered:
With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
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alitaptap said:
What does that statement mean?
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In general, free from contextual alteration, the statement is meaningless. If an answer explains everything, then it explains everything by definition of being able to explain everything including itself. Otherwise its like saying, the truth is that there is no truth.

However you could apply a specific context to which the statement is applied, and by doing so you could perhaps give validity to the statement. For instance, if i cannot find a possible/particular truth (the sun is shining) in some particular location (in London), i can just about say without absurdity (in respect of that particular location and possible truth), “the truth is that there is no truth”. But if i intend the statement to have a universal significance that transcends all particularity and contexts, then the statement becomes an absurdity.
 
alitaptap said:
What does that statement mean?
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It means a person who believes that there is an answer that explains everything has stopped asking and seeking answers to questions that remain without answers.
 
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