Monday, December 12, 2005

Metaphysics for Dummies

In an effort to continue my verbal spanking of George Will and Charles Krauthammer which I began in my post ID vs. Ego on Solablog, I refer you to this National Review article by Tom Bethell, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science. The final paragraph, I think, hits on why Darwinian evolution is vulnerable to the challenge of ID:
The underlying problem, rarely discussed, is that the conclusions of evolutionism are based not on science, but on a philosophy: the philosophy of materialism, or naturalism. Living creatures, including human beings, are here on Earth, and we got here somehow. If atoms and molecules in motion are all that exist, then their random interactions must account for everything that exists, including us. That is the true underpinning of Darwinism. What needs to be examined in detail is not so much the religion behind intelligent design as the philosophy behind evolution.
Until Darwinian evolutionists acknowledge and honestly deal with their own metaphysical assumptions, they will continue to be open to charges of hypocrisy in their criticism of ID. I doubt they will do so because they would have to do something that caused them to deny their metaphysical assumptions in the first place. They would have to face the implications of those assumptions.