Re: Methodological naturalism

Moorad Alexanian (alexanian@UNCWIL.EDU)
Thu, 26 Mar 1998 12:24:01 -0500 (EST)

At 08:47 AM 3/26/98 -0700, Allan Harvey wrote:

[deleted]

>
>Why is it that a "natural" explanation for stellar evolution is OK for a
>theist while a "natural" explanation for the evolution of life is (at
>least this is the impression conveyed by Prof. Johnson) incompatible with
>meaningful theism?

In the former one is dealing clearly with a physical system, while in the
latter one is not really sure. If by evolution of life you mean the
evolution of man from nonliving matter, then the jump in faith to believe in
the existence of such a theory is astronomical in magnitude. If by evolution
of life you mean the evolution of man from living but much less complex
entities, then the question of how human reasoning ability and consciousness
evolved becomes an extremely difficult problem. A purely materialistic
theory of man is hard to fathom. Remember what Descartes said that matter
cannot reason. How then can human reasoning evolve from matter/energy?

Moorad