Re: [asa] Expelled and ID

On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Ted Davis <tdavis@messiah.edu> wrote:

> Jumping into this one without having followed its development (having been
> off list for several weeks), I want simply to say that naturalism was
> probably invented by the presocratic Greek philosophers, including the
> hippocratic physicians (some of whom were not chronologically presocratic).
>
>
> As for the term, "methodological naturalism," it appears to have been
> invented by Wheaton philosopher DeVries (according to Ron Numbers' recent
> essay on the history of naturalism) in the 1980s.

Yes, Ted, that is what I was saying too. I've been asking people in a
variety of venues if anyone knows of an origin of the term that is earlier,
or perhaps pre-dating the scientific revolution.

I was also saying that science was invented first. So even though
principles surrounding science existed in ancient times, these were merely
potentials, and remained undiscovered, just as science remained
undiscovered. It would be helpful to know that MN solved a problem in
ancient times - a problem that wasn't religious, theological or even
philosophical, and has no impact upon religion or beliefs about ultimate
matters.

 However, to some extent
> the attitude conveyed by MN--that science as science can handle only
> natural
> causes, while neither affirming nor denying the reality of a "supernatural"
> creator who is the ultimate source of those causes--was held by many

Stephen M Barr points out that naturalism was invented by Christianity to
support a biblical type 'prime cause' [terminology mine] as opposed to
supernatural spirits as believed by pagan religions and societies.

>
> Christian natural philosophers since and during the scientific revolution.
> Boyle would be an example, except for his insistence that design was in
> some
> cases a legitimate inference within natural philosophy (ie, Boyle was to
> that extent an ID advocate). At the same time, Boyle held that causes in
> science should be mechanistic, that agency causation was not a scientific
> explanation (ie, Boyle was to that extent not an ID advocate).
>
> Ted
>

Thanks Ted,
Dave C (ASA)

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Wed May 21 12:29:43 2008