Faith Interface

Darwin’s Doubt – From a Monkey’s Mind?

In a 1994 paper by  entitled ‘Naturalism Defeated’: ” prominent philosopher, Dr. Alvin Plantinga discusses evolutionary arguments against naturalism. Plantinga zeroes in on what he calls “Darwin’s Doubt”.

Darwin expressed this doubt in a letter to William Graham, July 3rd, 1881, when he wrote:

 ”With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?”

Think about what Darwin is saying. Our rational cognitive faculties (memory, perceptions, reasoning) are ostensibly derivatives of a monkey’s mind … whose cognitive faculties are in turn derivatives of a lower mammal … and so on, eventually leading back to a single-celled organism.

This quote from Darwin reveals his  ”horrid doubt” at the dubious claim that lower animals could have been the evolutionary platform or beginnings for our “high evolved” cognitive faculties These cognitive faculties are well beyond behaviors or instincts, and involve complex metaphysical beliefs such as Naturalism itself. These powers of the human mind are far more advanced than is required for mere survival and propagation of our species, the solitary aim of natural selection.

Can it be that Naturalism could be defeated by it’s own evolutionary theories? If the human race is not created in the very image of God, with God’s mind so to speak, how can Darwin’s “monkey’s mind” stand up and debate the cosmos and the meaning of our existence?