Re: Teleology

From: Susan Brassfield Cogan (Susan-Brassfield@ou.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 12 2000 - 12:49:38 EDT

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    So you can't respond to my "salt water/fresh water lake" line of argument
    and have retreated into platitudes again

    Bertvan:
    >Teleology was a part of science until Darwin.

    No. Teleology was a part of science until the Enlightenment, a time when
    alchemy became chemistry and an exploration of the natural world without
    reference to magic was gradually becoming politically possible. Darwin is
    a product of the Enlightenment as were Jefferson, Cuvier, Priestly, etc.

    >Some pretty impressive
    >discoveries were made under an assumption of teleology.

    Actually science and the technological revolution didn't really get
    cranking until teleology was discarded. Remember, Copernicus had his major
    work published after his death. That is because he examined the natural
    world without reference to the supernatural and it was politically
    dangerous to do so. Major scientific discoveries that occurred before the
    Enlightenment happened *in spite* of teleology.

    >Then Darwin said, "I
    >can explain nature without teleology." It was a pretty good explanation for
    >its time. However science has made discoveries about the complexity of the
    >cell and the genome, which cause many of us to doubt lack of teleology. And
    >science made these discoveries in spite of a "no teleology" assumption.

    this is actually backwards. All the major scientific discoveries about
    genes and DNA have all supported Darwin's Theory. So have all the major
    fossil finds of this century, all the major cosmological discoveries and
    all the new technologies around radiometric dating.

    >Darwinists express fear that science will be damaged by an
    >assumption of design. Fear not. Science will continue as it has in the
    >past, with or without an assumption of design.

    Science cannot possibly be damaged by ID or creation "science." Science
    *teaching* has already been extensively damaged by them. This becomes
    obvious when you compare American science test scores with those of
    Europeans or the Japanese where creationists do not have much political
    power.

    Susan

    ----------

    The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our
    actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only
    morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.
    --Albert Einstein

    http://www.telepath.com/susanb/



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