Wednesday, February 04, 2009
How Do We Decide
If we live in a Godless universe and everything is simply the result of the interactions of matter and forces, then there is no essence to humanity other than physics and chemistry. Morality is arbitrary - life meaningless - personal responsibility an illusion.
That is a world that some people seem to hope to prove. Such are the scientists that over-reach and attempt to take the a priori simplifications made to make science doable and convert them into universal statements about actual reality. It is not a pleasant world and most people seem to know it.
R.R. Reno critiques a recent cognitive function study in a piece at First Things. He draws this fascinating conclusion:
The answer, of course, is sin. You see, if we live in a godless universe then we are God. What was it the serpent said to Eve?
And what Reno's conclusion so admirably points out is that we are having none of it. A few weeks ago I looked at how the devil's greatest weapon was not this sort of frontal assault, but the subtle perversions of a church gone wrong. I wonder; however, if these frontal assaults are not feints - distractions designed to keep us from seeing the real attacks?
Time to reread The Screwtape Letters. I wonder what feints we buy into in our everyday lives to avoid seeing the genuine perversions that warp us completely?
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That is a world that some people seem to hope to prove. Such are the scientists that over-reach and attempt to take the a priori simplifications made to make science doable and convert them into universal statements about actual reality. It is not a pleasant world and most people seem to know it.
R.R. Reno critiques a recent cognitive function study in a piece at First Things. He draws this fascinating conclusion:
I feel sorry for scientists. They undergo extraordinary intellectual training, and they have developed a powerful set of theories to explain the natural world. The ever-accelerating pace of technological innovation makes their expertise extremely valuable. Grant money cascades into cutting-edge laboratories. Researchers win prizes, apply for patents, and start companies. The medical-industrial complex grows and grows. Yes, big science is important, successful, and lucrative. Yet the consequences for culture are surprisingly thin.What I fail to understand, even as someone trained in science, is why we, as scientists, seek to make our wholly naturalistic presumptions into reality. Why are we unwilling to accept the limitations of our work? It is good work and we have come to understand creation in deep and awesome ways. We can manipulate so much more than we could, we can make so much better, and yet we want more.
So maybe ordinary folks aren’t just surprisingly wise philosophers, but also decent historians. Copernicus dislodged the earth from the center of the universe. Darwin shows how the human species emerges from the great genetic flux. The science was revolutionary, but the cultural implications have been the opposite of what anyone would have predicted. True enough, we’ve had Social Darwinism and other noxious attempts to make morality scientific. But, in the main, the trend has been otherwise. In the centuries when science has successfully persuaded Western culture that our earth is not the cosmic focal point and the human species does not have a unique biological status, humanism has predominated as a moral outlook. That’s another reason to chuckle when scientists warn that their discoveries will threaten our anthropocentric, morally animated culture.
The answer, of course, is sin. You see, if we live in a godless universe then we are God. What was it the serpent said to Eve?
Gen 3:5 - "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."What I find truly amazing is the blatantness of these scientific attempts. These are not the subtle tempting perversions of the evil one - no these are bold challenges placed directly in God's face.
And what Reno's conclusion so admirably points out is that we are having none of it. A few weeks ago I looked at how the devil's greatest weapon was not this sort of frontal assault, but the subtle perversions of a church gone wrong. I wonder; however, if these frontal assaults are not feints - distractions designed to keep us from seeing the real attacks?
Time to reread The Screwtape Letters. I wonder what feints we buy into in our everyday lives to avoid seeing the genuine perversions that warp us completely?
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