Re: [asa] C.S. Lewis on ID

My stab at this would be the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition,
Reason, and Experience.
David W. Opderbeck
Associate Professor of Law
Seton Hall University Law School
Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology

On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 11:52 AM, Alexanian, Moorad <alexanian@uncw.edu>wrote:

> Would someone tell me what "Consider All the evidence" really means? What
> evidence? How acquired?
>
>
> Moorad
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of George Murphy
> Sent: Wed 11/26/2008 11:41 AM
> To: David Opderbeck; John Burgeson (ASA member)
> Cc: David Clounch; john_walley@yahoo.com; Marcio Pie; ASA
> Subject: Re: [asa] C.S. Lewis on ID
>
>
> David is correct. However, it's the "Ascribe nothing to the gods"
> principle that really corresponds to MN. & simply stating it that way
> (instead of "Ascribe nothing to God") suggests one reason - certainly not
> the only or the most important one - for MN: Which gods? If science is to
> be a public enterprise and "the gods" are to be a legitimate way of
> explaining phenomena we'll run into problems when some ascribe the bacterial
> flagellum to YHWH, some to Krishna, some to Odin, &c. & the problem is not
> avoided by saying "the Designer" as long as it's clear that that entity is
> in the "gods" category.
>
> Shalom
> George
> http://home.neo.rr.com/scitheologyglm
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Opderbeck <mailto:dopderbeck@gmail.com>
> To: John Burgeson (ASA member) <mailto:hossradbourne@gmail.com>
> Cc: David Clounch <mailto:david.clounch@gmail.com> ;
> john_walley@yahoo.com ; Marcio Pie <mailto:pie@ufpr.br> ; ASA <mailto:
> asa@calvin.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 11:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [asa] C.S. Lewis on ID
>
> Burgy said: 1. Consider ALL the evidence
> 2. Ascribe nothing to the gods.
>
> I respond: I think MN is a valuable pragmatic limitation on a
> particular, narrow kind of human inquiry that we call "natural science."
> However, the two statements above seem contradictory to me. What if the
> "evidence" involves the activity of the gods? MN specifically and
> deliberately says "do NOT consider all the evidence." In fact, from a legal
> perspective, I would view MN as an exclusionary rule of evidence. In the
> courtroom, we don't allow juries to consider "all" the evidence -- we have
> lots of exclusionary rules based on reliability (hearsay), competence
> (limits on expert testimony), privileges (attorney client privilege),
> constitutional rights ("fruit of the poisoned tree" re: search and seizure;
> evidence obtained by torture), scope (relevance) and so on. A judicial
> proceeding is not really a search for capital-T Truth; it is a limited
> device pragmatically designed to adjudicate the truth of particularly
> defined human rights and relationships. Likewise, Science cannot seek or
> define capital-T Truth. Science is a limited device designed to uncover
> natural processes. Science oversteps its bounds when it claims to consider
> "all" the evidence.
>
> David W. Opderbeck
> Associate Professor of Law
> Seton Hall University Law School
> Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:56 AM, John Burgeson (ASA member) <
> hossradbourne@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 11/25/08, David Clounch <david.clounch@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "MN is a Christian theological solution to a theological
> problem and
> should not be taught in schools. Unless the school treats it
> as a
> religious theory in a comparative religion class."
>
>
> I assume you mean MN as meaning "Methodological Naturalism."
> If so, it
> was "taught" as long ago as 1 BC (+ or - some years) by the
> Greek
> Lucretus. Also by Epictitus. And more recently by my physics
> professors at Carnegie Tech in the 1950s.
>
> t was sort of a bedrock principle to them. I remember being
> taught the
> "Two basics of science" as:
>
> 1. Consider ALL the evidence
> 2. Ascribe nothing to the gods.
>
> (This last a quotaton from the ancient Greeks, of course.)
>
> I have a faint memory of it also being taught in my high
> school class,
> but I'm not sure of this. But it makes sense to introduce it
> then
> anyway.
>
>
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>

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Received on Wed Nov 26 12:16:58 2008