Re: Darwinism

Steve Clark (ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Mon, 15 Sep 1997 14:32:13 -0500

At 11:36 AM 9/15/97 -0700, Cliff wrote:
>Steve Clark wrote:

[snip]
>> People can do whatever they wish with scientific information and theories.
>> Science can be used to support whatever philosophical world-view people want
>> to argue for. This doesn't meant that the science is wrong.
>
>Steve is correct in his statements, but surely we may find it
>interesting (at least historically) when people jump on a
>theory for non-scientific reasons. Darwin may have been a bold
>pioneer, but his theory had a ready audience--the whole cadre of
>European materialists was hungry for something so wonderfully
>annoying to the clericalists.

This is fine, but it is important to keep in mind that the complaint by
anti-materialists should be made against materialism and not against
science. It seems to me that an important way to argue this point with
materialists, is not to argue that evolution science is invalid, but to
point out that evolution science fails to provide materialists with such
clear-cut support for their philosophy as they claim. Evolution science is
NOT incompatible with intelligent design. It is illogical for materialists
to claim that evolution disproves ID. So, if ID folk would convincingly
embrace evolution, it would be a powerful way to dispel this illogical
notion of the materialists.

Steve
_________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D . Phone: 608/263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: 608/263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and Email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Center
CSC K4-432
600 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53792

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to
search out a matter." Proverbs
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