Saturday, January 11, 2014

USAToday: Evolution is Settled Science and Not a Religious Proposition

The Beauty of Evolution



Truth may be, as Paul Dirac suggested, beautiful, but beauty is not always true. From the celestial spheres of the Greeks to Kepler’s heavenly harmonic tones, our dreams of beauty are often just that—dreams and not reality. But we dream on and today the most beautiful dream is evolution.

Evolution resolves every tension and is the foundation for moving forward. It makes God all the more wise, dignified and sovereign. For creating the laws that do the creating is more sublime and exalted than tinkering and creating thousands of species of beetles, for example.

And evolution protects God from being responsible for this ragged, asymmetric and evil world. This world clearly would not have been intended by any being powerful enough to create it. Also evolution protects God from the infinite regress that Hume warned of.

With those tensions resolved evolution provides for the way forward. Being able to explain our origins is the first step to controlling our origins. As Philip Johnson once observed, explanation is mastery. So man, in his clean white lab coat, is the objective source of truth. Without evolution, science would be impossible, for nature would be rent by the interference of supernatural transcendent powers, as Bultmann explained. With evolution, man takes control of the world.

Evolution is beautiful. It services both our theology and our philosophy—God and man.

Evolution also resolves our culture wars, for it provides a via media between the hostile atheists and the fundamentalist creationists. Evolution does not refute God nor prove God. Science and religion are non-overlapping magisteria and any attempt to combine and unite them shall infallibly injure both, as Baden Powell warned while Darwin worked away on his theory.

And so science has, not surprisingly, played its part. Its lines were written and it read them back perfectly. The conclusion is in and there can be no rational doubt. The empirical evidence overwhelmingly and unambiguously supports evolution. Nothing but natural law is needed to explain the origin of the world. The last piece has been added and the puzzle is complete.

There’s only one problem.

All of this incredible beauty is based on a silly and decidedly unscientific idea which is never spoken out loud: The world arose spontaneously. In reality there is no such empirical support. No overwhelming evidence and no unambiguous proof. Evolution is not a scientific fact, quite the opposite. Beauty does not imply truth.

But such realism is not acceptable in the world today. The beauty and necessity of evolution far outweigh any empirical objections. This can be seen in the steady stream of commentators such as Tom Krattenmaker who play off evolution’s beautiful themes. In his USAToday opinion piece this week, Krattenmaker laments the fact that public opinion polls ask if you believe in evolution.

This faith-laden language regarding such a hard science and proven topic as evolution is, for Krattenmaker, indicative of several underlying problems. There is the willful ignorance of the fundamentalists who believe in that outdated notion that humans were created by God in their present form, the failure of science to engage the public, the misconception that we must choose between evolution or God, the general misunderstanding of the objective scientific method that deals with scientific validity and has no leaps of faith, and the general mistrust of science in our country.

It’s all warfare thesis-positivism-scientism as Krattenmaker displays his ignorance of the history and philosophy of science in general and evolution in particular. No, evolution is not settled science (the only thing scientifically settled about evolution is that it is astronomically unlikely), the fact of evolution is based on metaphysical claims not empirical science, there is no guaranteed, objective scientific method, science certainly does take leaps of faith, and the public’s attitude toward science is usually well founded, with trust where science is on solid ground and mistrust where scientists make unfounded truth claims.

Krattenmaker’s commentary is, unfortunately, typical. Evolution is proclaimed to be a fact and then leveraged to arrive at all manner of unfounded conclusions. Evolution is much more than a scientific theory. It is the modern zeitgeist permeating education, media, law, public policy, public health, politics and environmentalism to name a few.

Religion drives science, and it matters.

11 comments:

  1. Of somewhat related note: ENV has a somewhat humorous article detailing the futile attempt of two materialists who tried to reduce the ‘sense of beauty’ to mere material mechanism.,,

    Beauty Evades the Clutches of Materialism – March 27, 2013
    http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/03/beauty_evades_t070321.html

    Though the article was somewhat technical, it was almost comical to read how every approach, in which the materialists tried to reduce the subjective sense of beauty to a mere material mechanism, was thwarted.,, But alas, don’t those materialistic researchers have even the faintest clue that,,,

    All Things Bright And Beautiful – poem
    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4082996/

    ,,,come from God??

    What Encourages Belief in God? Amazing Sights of 'Planet Earth,' Says New Study - November 27, 2013
    http://www.christianpost.com/news/what-encourages-belief-in-god-amazing-sights-of-planet-earth-says-new-study-109644/cpf
    The argument from beauty needs no words...
    22 Unbelievable Places that are Hard to Believe Really Exist - photos
    http://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-places/

    Beauty. . . can be appreciated only by the mind. This would be impossible, if this `idea' of beauty were not found in the mind in a more perfect form.
    http://www.quodlibet.net/articles/williams-aesthetic.shtml

    MercyMe - Beautiful
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh7-RSPuAA

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  2. Dr. Hunter I think you should have bumper stickers printed up with you theme, "Religion drives science, and it matters." If you have a reasonable quantity printed and sell them at a profit you might even be able to make a little extra money.

    I would be the first one to buy one!

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  3. Cornelius, I’m still confused by this argument.

    For example, how do you know that God didn’t choose to create the universe we observe, all at once, 150 years ago? What would be the impact of that choice on what we believe?

    I’m asking because it would seem that, according to you, those impacted beliefs would be religious too, because we cannot rule out that God didn’t choose to create the world we observe in any particular way. For example…

    “Consider this: if a supernatural creator were to have created the universe at the moment when Einstein or Darwin or any great scientist (appeared to have) just completed their major discovery, then the true creator of that discovery (and of all earlier discoveries) would have been not that scientist but the supernatural being. So such a theory would deny the existence of the only creation that really did take place in the genesis of that scientist’s discoveries.”

    Excerpt From: David Deutsch. “The Beginning of Infinity.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/F1G6A.l
    Is the belief that Darwin is the true creator of his own theory religious?

    Or are you saying that we can rule some of God’s choices out, like choosing to create the universe we observe all at once 150 years ago? If so, how?

    Furthermore, it seems that your argument is narrow in scope as, being a non-theist, I’m not concerned with solving the problem of God being wise, sublime, exalted, or any of the other religious conflicts you mention. Rather, a belief that God decided to use evolution would be, theistic evolution.

    Calling theistic evolution “religious” would be, well, a tautology, right?

    Last, you refer to a misrepresentation, in that Evolutionary theory doesn’t suggest that everything arose spontaneously. The idea that one must think biological complexity was due to design or appeared spontaneously is a false dilemma.

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    1. Scott:

      being a non-theist, I’m not concerned with solving the problem of God being wise, sublime, exalted, or any of the other religious conflicts you mention.

      Terrific, then unlike evolutionists you are free to go by the science and reject the theory since it fails so badly.

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    2. Scott: Furthermore, it seems that your argument is narrow in scope as, being a non-theist, I’m not concerned with solving the problem of God being wise, sublime, exalted, or any of the other religious conflicts you mention. Rather, a belief that God decided to use evolution would be, theistic evolution.

      CH: Terrific, then unlike evolutionists you are free to go by the science and reject the theory since it fails so badly.

      But this argument is also narrow in scope as, being a non-Empiricist (not to be confused with rejecting the importance of empirical observations) I’m not concerned trying to derive theories from observations. Nor am I concerned with proving theories are true or probability true.

      Just as I think God or some abstract designer is a bad explanation for the biological complexity we observe, I think Empiricism is a bad explanation for the growth of knowledge (not to be confused with rejecting the idea that knowledge does indeed grow).

      Rather, I think we have and can continue to make progress on the growth of human knowledge beyond Empiricism. To think we live in some privileged time where we cannot make progress on the issue is, well, mistaken. Just as Logical Positivists were mistaken, etc.

      See The history of Scientific Method on Wikipedia.

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  4. Scott: Or are you saying that we can rule some of God’s choices out, like choosing to create the universe we observe all at once 150 years ago?

    J: Scott, teleological explanations INCLUDE the positing of specific, historic choices. Otherwise they don't explain. No big "D" ID view can work without positing that the inductive orderliness of an inductively-inferred extra-ego reality is, itself, CHOSEN by the big "D" designer. This is what EXPLAINS the existence of positive evidence while simultaneous ruling out the absurd views you mention.

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    1. Jeff,

      Cornelius argues that God could have chosen to create the same world we observe in different ways. And, being God, he might have a good reason for choosing one on those ways that we simply cannot understand.

      I’m merely pointing out that one of those ways God could have created these same world we observe, it to create it all at once, 150 years ago, for some good reason we could not understand either. And I’m pointing out the implications of God having made that choice.

      Or perhaps you do think we could rule out God having create the entire universe we observe, all at once, 150 years ago? For example, you might think it’s to difficult for God, or perhaps you think that is something a sensible God wouldn't do?

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    2. Scott: Or perhaps you do think we could rule out God having create the entire universe we observe, all at once, 150 years ago?

      J: We DO rule it out, Scott, so that we can explain in a way that we can believe has value to our choices (which is what inductive criteria have to do with). But you can't even make sense of that, for you deny that we can know that there are even such things as APPARENT memories. Because to claim even that knowledge is to embrace foundationalism.

      Scott: For example, you might think it’s to difficult for God, or perhaps you think that is something a sensible God wouldn't do?

      J: It's something that a God that can explain the validity of inductive criteria wouldn't and didn't do.

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    3. J: It's something that a God that can explain the validity of inductive criteria wouldn't and didn't do.

      I'm still not following you.

      First, all I’ve done is move the boundaries set by creationism and implied in ID. Instead of creating a great number of organism all at once, at the cambrian for example, or creating the program in each organisms DNA, some designer decided to create the entire universe at once, 150 years ago. These are variants of the same general purpose strategy to deny that creation actually took place. All I’ve done is changed the boundary at which creation is denied.

      And, yes, I’m including ID. For example, could ID’s designer be an ancient civilization of highly advanced aliens: Yes or No? If no, why?

      Second, for the sake of argument, let’s assume inductive criteria is currently valid. How does a supernatural being’s choice to create the universe all at once, 150 years ago render inductive criterial invalid *now*? No one alive today with apparent memories is 150 years old. No would said inductive criteria have always been valid before some supernatural being decided to create a material world. Again, all I’ve done is change the boundaries that are already present in creationism and implied in ID.

      Actually, that’s not quite right. I’ve changed the boundaries in ways that conflict with specific human conceptions of God. Specially, the ones you just happen to subscribe to.

      Again, this is why this argument is narrow in scope and represents a general purpose way to deny that any creation actually took place.

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    4. Correction:

      Nor would said inductive criteria have always been valid before some supernatural being decided to create a material world.

      Delete
  5. If this guy thinks evolution is a settled fact and he has a audience by way of his magazine then teach his readership, to convert or confirm, about the top evidence for evolutionary biology! Stating the TRUE RELIGION is easy but prove your religion.
    Its interesting. Is not america defined by its opposition to evolution?
    Is it a sign of a historic more intelligent people who are the least likely to be misled or go into error OR is it a sign of a backward nation relative to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the rest?!
    ID and YEC are the talk of the modern world of science.
    This is a famous and on going fight.
    One side's leaders will go down in intellectual history as either another rebel who was right/establishment wrong or another rebel who was wrong/establishment right.
    this fight can't go on forever when both sides invoke evidence/failed evidence .

    I do by the way think beauty is truth because i think there is no beauty but only accurate equations. This, to me , shows a creator in the universe who made the universe beautiful based on laws of symmetry.
    beauty is simply right answer living in a majority world of wrong answers. however the wrong simly lower the bar and create a beauty division.

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