Tag: methodological naturalism

Cocked empty mousetrap on dark background.

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post

Author
Michael Behe

Date
September 26, 2022

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
A Mousetrap for Darwin, beginning of universe, Big Bang theory, co-option, Darwin Devolves, Darwin’s Black Box, eternal universe, Evolution, exaptation, Graham Oppy, inductive reasoning, Intelligent Design, Kenneth R. Miller, methodological materialism, methodological naturalism, Michael J. Behe, Molecular Machines, mousetraps, natural law, Naturalism, philosophy of science, purposeful arrangement of parts, The Edge of Evolution, Thomas Aquinas, Who Designed the Designer}

Behe Counters the Best Objections to Irreducible Complexity and ID, Pt 3

_{Michael Behe

September 26, 2022

Intelligent Design}

On today’s ID the Future biologist Michael Behe and Philosophy for the People host Pat Flynn conclude their conversation (posted by permission here) about some of the best objections to Behe’s central case for intelligent design. One objection Behe and Flynn tackle in this episode: the idea of evolution overcoming the irreducible-complexity hurdle through co-option. That is, maybe the precursors to what would become one of today’s molecular machines, such as the bacterial flagellum motor, co-opted simpler machines being used for other purposes, allowing evolution to build a bacterial flagellum motor one small step at a time over thousands or millions of generations, even though the completed bacterial flagellum ceases to function at all when just one of its many key parts Read More ›

Collision galaxies. Three-dimensional parabola with collision of galaxies. Universe with stars and stars. Starry sky

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post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
August 13, 2022

Categorized
Intelligent Design, Science

Tagged
__edited, Adolf Grünbaum, animal phyla, dialectic, God of the gaps, Materialism, methodological materialism, methodological naturalism, origin of life, Ron Numbers, Ronald Numbers}

Paul Nelson on Freeing Minds Trapped in a Naturalistic Parabola

_{Paul Nelson

August 13, 2022

Intelligent Design, Science}

On this ID the Future from the vault, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson continues sharing with host Andrew McDiarmid about pursuing intelligent design theory in a science culture committed to naturalism. As Nelson puts it here, it’s about trying to communicate with scientists who are trapped in a “naturalistic parabola.” That parabola sets the rule and defines the boundaries for science: naturalistic answers only. And it extends to infinity, so no finite number of objections or counter-examples can force naturalistic scientists out of it. Nelson, however, offers an alternative strategy for drawing them out of the parabola.

The Very Large Array (VLA) radio-astronomy antennas, in New Mexico, is one of the most impressive observatories in the world. The Sun was piercing through after a major storm during a public tour.

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post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
July 11, 2022

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
alien life, Atheism, Carl Sagan, Carl Sagan’s Contact, Contact, cosmos, design detection, DNA, DRAKE equation, extra-terrestrial intelligence, Fred Hoyle, Gifford Lectures, Gloria Patri, intelligent causes, Intelligent Design, Materialism, methodological naturalism, Michael Behe, National Academy of Sciences, Paul Nelson, philosophical naturalism, Pi, prime numbers, pulsars, religious skepticism, Robert Crowther, science fiction, search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, SETI, Stephen Meyer, superstition, The Demon Haunted World, UAP, unidentified arial phenomenon, William Dembski}

Carl Sagan’s Love/Hate Relationship with Intelligent Design

_{Paul Nelson

July 11, 2022

Intelligent Design}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher of science Paul Nelson explores an intriguing tension in the thinking of famous scientist and science popularizer Carl Sagan concerning his agnosticism shading into atheism on the one hand, and on the other hand his embrace of certain ideas consistent with the theory of intelligent design. As Nelson is quick to clarify, if Sagan had lived to see the rise of the contemporary intelligent design movement, he probably would have rejected it, particularly its theistic implications. And yet, Nelson says, Sagan’s thinking and arguments laid out in his Gifford lectures and in his science fiction novel Contact strongly support the idea that intelligent design can be detected. Nelson goes further, saying that if we Read More ›

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post

Author
William A. Dembski

Date
May 2, 2022

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
1 Corinthians, Atheism, birth of science, Casey Luskin, Christianity, Darwinism, definition of faith, definition of science, Evolution, faith, fall of man, Galileo, God, God of creation, God of redemption, Intelligent Design, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Johannes Kepler, methodological materialism, methodological naturalism, Michael Faraday, natural philosophy, Nicolaus Copernicus, philosophy of science, Science, Science and faith, scientific revolution, Scientism, self-refuting claims, Theism, Theology, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, trust, truth, William Dembski}

William Dembski on Scientism, Science, and Christian Faith

_{William A. Dembski

May 2, 2022

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher William Dembski and host Casey Luskin explore the relationship between science and faith. What is science? What is faith? How does Christianity define faith? Dembski explains that faith in the Judeo-Christian tradition is not the opposite of reason; at the same time, faith possesses a relational component—trust in a just, gracious, and reasonable God—that goes beyond mere assent to propositions. As for science, Dembski describes it as a careful search for truths about the natural world, including truths about key elements such as the birth of our fine-tuned universe and the origin of living things. Dembski says that he is convinced that scientific discoveries, unshackled from atheistic blinders, point strongly to intelligent design as Read More ›

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post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 15, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
abductive reasoning, Alvy Singer, Alvy’s Error, Annie Hall, Atheism, Bayesian reasoning, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, fine tuning, Fred Hoyle, freedom, God, God hypothesis, Harold J. Berman, Intelligent Design, James Davison Hunter, Materialism, methodological naturalism, Michael Shermer, moral absolutes, moral argument for God, moral objectivism, moral relativism, Morality, Naturalism, nature red in tooth and claw, Origin of the Species, Paul Nedelisky, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Science and the Good, skepticism, sociobiology, Stephen C. Meyer, Theism, Woody Allen}

Pt. 2: Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 15, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future continues a lively and cordial conversation between atheist Michael Shermer and Stephen Meyer, author of Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. In this segment of the four-part series, Shermer and Meyer discuss a fourth argument for theism, the moral law within. Then they discuss the similarities and differences between inferring design for something like the Rosetta Stone versus inferring intelligent design from the information in DNA or the fine tuning of the universe. The interview is reposted here by permission of Michael Shermer.

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post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 13, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Allen Sandage, Altenberg 16, Atheism, beginning of the universe, Big Bang, BioLogos, Brian Keating, confirmation bias, Darrel Falk, Eugene Koonin, exotic naturalism, fine tuning, fine tuning of the universe, Francis Crick, God and the Astronomers, Günter Bechly, imaginary time, James Tour, Materialism, metaphysical hypotheses, methodological naturalism, Michael Shermer, multiverse, Neo-Darwinism, origin of life, oscillating universe model, panspermia, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, RNA World hypothesis, Robert Jastrow, skepticism, steady state theory, Stephen C. Meyer, Stephen Hawking, Theism, theistic evolution}

Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer, Pt. 1

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 13, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights the first part of a lively and cordial conversation between host and atheist Michael Shermer and Stephen Meyer, author of Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. In this first of the four-part series, the two touch on everything from Meyer’s three key lines of evidence for theism to a quick flyover of less well-known materialistic origins theories, including the oscillating universe model, panspermia as an explanation for the origin of the first life on earth, and Stephen Hawking’s idea of imaginary time. Meyer lumps many of these ideas under what he terms exotic naturalism and suggests that the atheists who defend these explanations are multiplying exotic Read More ›

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post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
June 28, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
agnosticism, Alister McGrath, Atheism, BioLogos, Bruce Gordon, Christopher L. Reese, complex specified information, constrained integration view of science and religion, dialogue view of science and religion, evolutionary creation, evolutionary psychology, Faith and Science, Francis Collins, historical sciences, independence view of science and religion, Intelligent Design, Isaac Newton, methodological naturalism, Michael Ruse, Naturalism, NOMA, Non-overlapping magisteria, Paul Copan, postmodernism, Robert Boyle, science and religion, Scientific Method, scientific revolution, Stephen J. Gould, theistic evolution, Three Views on Christianity and Science, universal morality of human beings}

Casey Luskin Reviews Three Views on Christianity and Science

_{Casey Luskin

June 28, 2021

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, host Tom Gilson and guest Casey Luskin discuss a new book Luskin recently reviewed at Evolution News, Three Views on Christianity and Science. Luskin, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, summarizes the three views covered in the book: the independence view presented by Michael Ruse, the dialogue view presented by Alister McGrath, and the constrained integration view presented by Bruce Gordon. Luskin critiques the first two and argues that the dialogue view, in practice, quickly devolves into a monologue where religion is supposed to sit down and shut up the moment there is a point of difference between religion and consensus science. He says this is doubly problematic because (a) scientists Read More ›

An old man shakes hands with an opponent in a game of chess, he lost and acknowledges it.

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Author
Michael Flannery

Date
October 21, 2020

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, Darwinism, Evolution, fine-tuning, human exceptionalism, methodological materialism, methodological naturalism, Natural Selection, Natural Theology, Privileged Planet, science and religion, teleology, Theism, Theory of Evolution, Tom Wolfe, World of Life}

Alfred Russel Wallace and His Friendly Battle with Darwin

_{Michael Flannery

October 21, 2020

Evolution}

On this ID the Future, science historian Michael Flannery continues discussing his newly updated Intelligent Evolution: How Alfred Russel Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwin. Wallace was co-founder with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution by random variation and natural selection, but unlike Darwin he saw teleology or purpose as essential to life’s history, and a teleological view as essential to the life sciences. According to Flannery, Wallace’s views on the nature of the cell, the special attributes of humans, the irreducible nature of life, and the fine tuning of the universe hold up well today. He and Darwin disagreed on much of this, yet they maintained mutual respect. In this, Flannery says, the two are a great model Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
August 19, 2020

Categorized
Human Origins, Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, DNA, God of the gaps, Materialism, materialism of the gaps, methodological naturalism, origin of life, repair mechanisms, spontaneous generation, Stairway to Life}

The Origin of Life and the Materialism of the Gaps

_{Eric H. Anderson

August 19, 2020

Human Origins, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson speaks again with medical engineer Rob Stadler, co-author with molecular biologist Change Laura Tan of the new book Stairway to Life: An Origin of Life Reality Check. Here in Part 2 of their conversation, Stadler says that following the Miller-Urey experiments in the mid-twentieth century, researchers were optimistic that a purely naturalistic explanation for the origin of the first life was just around the corner, but since then the field has run into one obstacle after another. The challenge to mindless origin-of-life scenarios is now far greater than it was 60-70 years ago. And yet many in the field still cling to the belief that life must have arisen by Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
August 17, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, chirality, Craig Venter, DNA, homochirality, Materialism, methodological naturalism, origin of life, repair mechanisms, spontaneous generation, Stairway to Life}

New Book: The Stairway to Life Is Really a Cliff

_{Eric H. Anderson

August 17, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, guest host Eric Anderson speaks with medical engineer Rob Stadler, co-author with molecular biologist Change Laura Tan of the new book Stairway to Life: An Origin of Life Reality Check. Stadler explains that it’s a “reality check” because many of the “stairway steps” that have to be mounted for chemistry to become biology must, very inconveniently, happen all at once. DNA can’t survive without repair enzymes, for example, but those enzymes are able to exist because they’re coded in DNA. The reality check is needed, says Stadler, because the media eagerly touts every oversold “advance” in origin-of-life research, ignore the mounting difficulties for an unguided origin of life posed by various fresh discoveries, Read More ›