RE: [asa] on science and meta-science

Strictly speaking, scientific laws establish logical connections rather than “the discovery of such cause-and-effect processes when none are (sic) currently known.”

Moorad
________________________________
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Keith Miller [keithbmill@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 1:44 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] on science and meta-science

Cameron wrote:

I don't believe that this conception is *entirely* accounted for by empirical evidence, i.e., evidence that God has acted in nature only through natural laws. When it comes to origins, we are, for the most part, in the dark about how God chose to act. Yet most TEs have a strong *preference* for a naturalistic explanation of origins. And the source of this preference is not scientific but metaphysical. This is why I have a hard time accepting the criticism of ID from TE quarters which says that ID people confound the scientific and the metaphysical, thus doing damage to both science and theology. As far as I can see, TE is based on a metaphysical preference -- that, outside of a few (in the case of some TEs, *very* few) Biblical miracles, God always acts and always has acted exclusively through natural causes. Given this preference, TE people are in no position to accuse ID people of contaminating the objective study of nature by imposing metaphysical requirements upon !
 it.

You seem to be confusing assumptions that are necessary for the doing of science, with broader claims about reality. As I have been saying, science as a discipline simply cannot test whether or not a particular event or process was a direct or indirect result of God's action. Science attempts to discover the cause-and-effect actions of physical agents and measurable forces (the properties of energy and matter). Science will continue to pursue the discovery of such cause-and-effect processes when none are currently known. Such unanswered questions are what drive scientific research.

But, this limitation does not apply to one's broader metaphysical worldview. As I have stated, I have no theological objection to God acting in ways that break the continuing of cause-and-effect processes (although such times must be rare in order for the created universe to behave in a generally predictable and understandable fashion). It is just that science cannot resolve such questions.

The limitations inherent in science are in no way a limitation of God.

Keith

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Received on Mon Nov 9 13:53:55 2009