Re: Darwinism is an edifice of faith

Brian D Harper (bharper@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Thu, 11 Dec 1997 15:23:58 -0500

At 02:44 PM 12/11/97 -0500, Loren wrote:
>
>
>On Thu, 11 Dec 1997, Eduardo G. Moros wrote:
>
>> Darwinism is, in fact, an edifice of faith. And people love to throw
rocks at
>> it while others try to catch the rocks before more windows are broken. This
>> is parallel to how people love to throw rocks at religion beliefs while other
>> feel compelled to "defend their faith".
>
>The implication here (and in an earlier post today) is that if Darwinism
>was *only* a scientific theory, people wouldn't be so protective of it.
>If people are so eager to rush around catching rocks thrown at the
>Darwinian edifice, it must be an edifice of faith. Right?
>
>Wrong. Oh, sure, Darwinism is an edifice of religious faith for some
>rock-catchers (and an edifice of evil heresy to some rock-throwers).
>But I can think of a reason why someone might rush around defending
>something which -- for them -- is not an edifice of faith but merely a
>scientific theory. The reason is this:
>
>Their intelligence and moral integrity has been repeatedly attacked
>because they believed that scientific theory to be true. If attacked
>often enough, it's hard not to "rush to the defense" of the theory even if
>that theory holds no particular religious value (one way or another).
>If attacked often enough, someone might even "rush to the defense"
>inappropriately, responding to a well-reasoned and sensibly cautious
>scientific critique as if it were yet another round of rhetorical mortar
>fire.
>
>Perfectly understandable human reaction.
>

Very good point Loren. It's kinda like hitting some poor
guy repeatedly over the head with a 2x4 and then saying
"aha, you must deserve it or you wouldn't be complaining
so much".

Brian Harper
Associate Professor
Applied Mechanics
The Ohio State University

"... we have learned from much experience that all
philosophical intuitions about what nature is going
to do fail." -- Richard Feynman