Allan wrote: "This philosophical error is made by some popularizers of
science who like to think of science as having pushed God out of the
picture (Richard Dawkins, for example). But many Christians also seem to
equate the two (ID advocates Phil Johnson and John Wiester come to mind).
Since Evolution as Metaphysical Explanation is clearly incompatible with
Christianity, Christians who accept the Dawkins equation of (3) with (4)
are forced to oppose Evolution as Mechanism as though the truth of the
faith were at stake."
Having read Griffin's book, I think there is more to it than that,
although the four definitions are useful).
Griffin identifies 14 points of Darwinism, and "evolution" and
"Darwinism" are too often seen as synonymous. Therein lies the problem.
Anyway, here are Griffin's 14 points. He agrees with 1-4 and rejects
5-14.
1. Microevolution
2. Macroevolution (all present species have come from previous species)
3. Naturalistic
4. Uniformitarianism
5. No theistic guidance, either non-casual or "directing influence"
6. Positivism. All influences are, in principle, detectable through
sensory perception
7. Predictive (in principle) Determinism. No teleology.
8. Macroevolution understood as microevolution happening long enough
9. Natural selection acting on mutations the sole cause
10. Gradualism. Tiny step by tiny step
11. Nominalism
12. Atheistic
13. Amoral
14. Nonprogressive
See my full review of Griffin's book at
http://www.burgy.50megs.com/griffin.htm
Burgy
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