Stephen Meyer: Evidence of Mind in The Natural World
Can we scientifically detect the activity of a mind behind the universe? On this ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer answers this question and more in the concluding hour of a new two-hour interview on various topics related to his work and books. The interview was recorded in the fall of 2023 by Praxis Circle, a worldview-building organization that promotes open dialogue around life’s biggest questions. The word praxis harkens back to Latin and Greek as a word for practice, action, or doing. So praxis refers to the process of interaction between our worldview – our conception of reality, our view of the world – and our practice of living and acting in it. It’s an interesting mental space to begin a dialogue.
A word on the format of the interview. The interview host is Doug Monroe, and you’ll hear him at various intervals. However, the discussion was recorded specifically to be broken up into 39 short videos, so most of the time you won’t hear the question being asked – just Dr. Meyer’s response. The questions he answers are often connected and follow a logical progression exploring Dr. Meyer’s books and arguments. Plus, Dr. Meyer usually begins his answer by paraphrasing the question, so you’ll have a good idea what he’s talking about as he begins each new answer.
In case it’s helpful, here’s an outline of the topics covered by Dr. Meyer in this second hour of the interview:
- How Christianity Sparked the Scientific Revolution
- How Human Fallibility Led to Development of a Scientific Method
- Scientific Materialism and Philosophical Skepticism
- Where Intelligent Design Stands in the Scientific Community Today
- The Argument of Signature in the Cell
- The Universe’s Origin and Quantum Physics
- Every Philosophical System Posits a Prime Reality
- Cosmological Data that Points to God?
- Our Fine-tuned Universe
- Fine-tuning vs. the Multiverse
- Applying Occam’s Razor
- The Low Creative Power of Darwinian Mutations
- The Problem with Theories of Everything
- Theistic Evolution: an Oxymoron
- Do Miracles Violate the Laws of Nature?
- A Good Theology of Nature
- Society’s Ultimate Problem
This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Listen to Part 1.
Dig Deeper
- Learn more about Praxis Circle at praxiscircle.com.
- Follow Dr. Meyer’s latest writing, videos, and more at stephencmeyer.org.
- A note on the image used: Fanciful Landscape, by Thomas Doughty, 1834. Public domain.