Re: Johnson and intelligent design

From: Bryan R. Cross (crossbr@SLU.EDU)
Date: Tue Jul 04 2000 - 19:01:51 EDT

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    dfsiemensjr@juno.com wrote:

    > To Allan, George and Joel:
    >
    > May I suggest that there is no point in responding to Bryan Cross? It
    > appears that he KNOWS the untruth, and the untruth has bound him
    > irretrievably. Allan, for example, made a relevant point, which was
    > dismissed on the basis of Humpty Dumpty semantics. Doesn't this suggest
    > irremediable ignorance?
    >
    > Dave

    Dave,

    I didn't dismiss Allan's point. I was rather sympathetic to his points. He
    and I have a different working definition of MN; it turns out that by
    merely pointing that out, I became guilty of "Humpty Dumpty semantics"
    (whatever that is). Should you resort to the silent treatment and ad
    hominems, I will simply point out the fallacious nature of such responses.
    You still owe me proof that ID proponents define 'design' as "direct divine
    action". If you can't support your claim, retract it. If you find some
    notable ID proponent who has defined 'design' as "direct divine action", a
    check for $20 will be in the mail to you, and I'll post a retraction to the
    list. Since I am willing to retract, if you are unwilling to retract, then
    whose state is irremediable? As a philosopher (and a Peircean-type
    fallibilist at that), I'm going to continue to focus my attention on
    discovering the truth about these issues. In this process, I have found it
    helpful not to assume that my interlocutors are ignorant, irrational,
    irremediable, or irrecusable. I generally learn the most when discussing
    issues with those who see things very differently than I do (e.g. my
    atheist friends), and I suspect that this general observation holds for
    others as well.

    - Bryan



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