Science in Christian Perspective
Letter to the Editor
Disappointed with MacKay
John A. Cramer
Hensel Apts. X3F College Station, Texas
From: JASA 27 (June 1975): 96.
The many kind words about D.M. MacKay's book "The Clockwork
Image" encouraged
me to order a copy from ASA headquarters. I was disappointed. Perhaps
the reasons
for this will be of some value to other ASA members.
The chief difficulty is that his central thesis is not a thesis but
an assumption.
He claims that even if it were shown that all of the universe in its parts and
its entirety could be explained mechanistically, there still would be room for
other explanations, e.g., Christianity. He says, ". . the
'nothing-buttery'
assumption - that when you have verified a complete account in one set of terms
you automatically debunk any others - is simply mistaken logic" (pg. 72).
In support of this he makes two points: (a) one's ability to describe
completely
the workings of an electric sign leaves out the meaning of the sign
and (b) scientific
criteria cannot properly be applied to all areas of life. He apparently thinks
the two points are the same since he illustrates the second by
repeating the first
(pg. 43).
The reply is that his claim is a bald-faced denial of the law of
parsimony (Occam's
razor). I suppose the choice is his privilege but then his thinking is useless
to those who choose to retain the law. This eccentric choice is
possible because
he begs the question at a critical point. He assumes the existence of value and
meaning. But, it is precisely that assumption that is under attack and in need
of support. He seems totally unaware that modern men do not believe in values
or God because they do not share his view of Occam's razor and because they do
believe "the clockwork image".
There are other problems but enough is enough. In short, this book is, at best,
an illegitimate tool with which to loosen the grip of "the
clockwork image"
on the minds of modern men.