----------
> From: Steve Clark <ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu>
> To: Ron Chitwood <chitw@flash.net>
> Cc: Calvin Evolution Reflector <evolution@calvin.edu>
> Subject: Re: Putting evolution to work on the assembly line
> Date: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 5:43 PM
>
> At 04:42 PM 7/22/98 -0500, Ron Chitwood wrote:
> >You did go into great detail. I was thinking of Sherlock Holmes and his
> >use of Ockham's Razor. The possibility with the least amount of
> >possibilities is usually the right one.
> >
> >In the case of God vs macroevolutionism, only one unprovable possibility
is
> >involved when one says, "God created....". There are 3 unprovable
> >assumptions that must be made otherwise. 1. Environment was conducive
to
> >life, 2.Chance created life, 3. random selection increased the variety.
>
> The analogy here is imperfect. Ron compares apples to oranges. Better
> constructed analogies would either be that "God created..." and "nature
> created...". Or the following:
>
> 1. Environment was conducive to life, 2. Chance created life, 3. Random
> selection increased the variety.
>
> and this
>
> 1. God made the environment conducive to life, 2. God created life, 3.
God
> increased the variety.
>
> I don't think that invoking Ockham's Razor to argue in favor of a
> creationist position is very compelling.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Steve
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Steven S. Clark, Ph.D. Ph: 608-263-9137
> Associate Professor FAX: 263-4226
> Dept. of Human Oncology ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
> University of Wisconsin
> School of Medicine
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> Madison, WI 53792