 |
| Woman selling socks in Istanbul, Turkey |
I'm reading more of Thomas Nagel's Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conceptionof Nature Is Almost Certainly False. Nagel the NYU philosopher is an atheist, and seemingly the epitome of independent thinking. Nagel seems unfazed as he swims against the prevailing religious-atheistic currents. Hence this book, which even dares to applaud aspects of the Intelligent Design movement. But hey, if all you are interested in is truth, you will gladly take it from any source. Nagel, thus, is resolutely politically incorrect when it comes to the bandwagoning politics of atheism.
Nagel writes:
"The appearance of life from dead matter and its evolution through accidental mutation and natural selection to its present forms has involved nothing but the operation of physical law— cannot be regarded as unassailable. It is an assumption governing the scientific project rather than a well-confirmed scientific hypothesis." (Kindle Locations 150-152)
In Mind and Cosmos, Nagel assails Mount Unassailable. Why not? Why not acquiesce and simply drink the atheistic kool-aid? Because, to be true to his own self and his own idea of truth, Nagel doubts the scope of the explanatory power of natural selection. Why not let him do it and write about it? And then, just consider his arguments?
He writes:
"I disagree with the defenders of intelligent design in their assumption, one which they share with their opponents, that the only naturalistic alternative is a reductionist theory based on physical laws of the type with which we are familiar. Nevertheless, I believe the defenders of intelligent design deserve our gratitude for challenging a scientific world view that owes some of the passion displayed by its adherents precisely to the fact that it is thought to liberate us from religion." (K 157-160)
The world view of Neo-Darwinism, says Nagel, "is ripe for displacement."
