Re: Directed evolution: evidence for teleology?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Barden" <chris.barden@gmail.com>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 10:56 AM
Subject: Directed evolution: evidence for teleology?

> Hi everyone,
>
> I have been thinking a lot lately about the philosophical issue that
> drives ID backlash to TE, specifically Johnson's equation of TE with
> naturalism and practical atheism. This position, as I see it, is a
> refusal to accept secondary causes as sufficient for God's activity
> and is often portrayed as "God of the Gaps", though it need not be so
> formulated.

I think this is correct, & there's another nuance. It's certainly been part
of traditional doctrines of providence to say that on rare occasions God
acts directly rather than through second causes. I don't think there's any
compelling reason to say that such miraculous acts are needed in the
evolutionary process but let's grant for the sake of argument that they
are - e.g., for the origin of life. But then you just have to say "It's a
miracle" and not pretend that you can investigate it scientifically, because
we can't subject God to experimental testing. The IDers want to have it
both way - to say that some phenomena are due to direct divine action AND to
make that part of a scientific theory. As far as incorporation into science
is concerned, a miracle in that sense can at most be a boundary condition
(temporal &/or spatial) which can't otherwise be explained.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

 
Received on Fri Oct 14 15:42:48 2005