Design and Knowledge

Date July 2, 2006 Posted by Amy Hall

Can we have any true knowledge in a world where we developed by chance?

 

The concept of creation or design is the crucial assumption that believers of the nineteenth century overlooked when they thought the sciences could proceed without any distinctively Christian presuppositions.  Apart from the doctrine of creation or design, there is no basis for trusting that the ideas in my mind have any correlation to the world outside.  If the human mind is a product of chance events, preserved by natural selection, then there is no basis for trusting any of our ideas.  Recall Darwin's “horrid doubt” that the human mind could be trusted at all, if it is a product of evolution.  The non-Christian pursuing his research has no choice but to rely on his senses, just as everyone else does; but he has no philosophical basis for doing so.  He is being inconsistent with his own worldview.  (Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth, p. 315)

 

Though scientists may have a hard time accepting this (since their work and authority depend on their being able to perceive reality), many others who recognize the implications of Darwinism (and don't have their livelihood threatened by the outcome) have already proceeded willingly down this path from naturalistic Darwinism, accepting the postmodern view that we do not have access to reality.  Therefore, the most important consideration for these people when choosing their beliefs is not truth itself (since “truth” is in the eye of the beholder), but rather, they are concerned primarily with how the beliefs in question may affect others–insult, empower, alienate, etc. 

 

Many Christians also accept this perspective (or a form of this that goes beyond an appropriate acknowledgment of human fallibility), not realizing that the view is a direct result of naturalistic thinking.  But our grounds, as Christians, for believing that we have the ability to perceive reality and can have reasonably confident ideas about the truth (even if that confidence can never be absolute) are these:  Our senses did not develop by random chance such that we can never know if they perceive reality; God designed us to interact successfully with the world.  Pearcey describes this using a phrase from Udo Middelmann:  “Because God created us in His image, to function in His world, there is a 'continuity of categories' between God's mind, our minds, and the structure of the world.”

 

This kind of confidence in the possibility of knowledge can only be grounded in a theistic framework.

Related posts:

  1. The Heart of Intelligent Design Theory
  2. Intelligent Design Lecture
  3. The Root of Experience is Knowledge
  4. Antony Flew on Intelligent Design, Islam … and the Establishment Clause
  5. ETS 2007: Is the Spontaneous Market Order an Example of the Design without a Designer? By Jay W. Richards
  6. Brothers and Sisters, Why So Cynical?

Category Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Emerging / Emergent Church, Main Page, Philosophy, Science

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