Science & Truth
Q: Why does science only admit explanatory mechanisms that are naturalistic and materialistic?
A: Because we know that the supernatural and the immaterial do not exist.
Q: How do we know that?
A: Because science has proven it.
Q: How has science proven that the supernatural and the immaterial do not exist?
A: By providing naturalistic and materialistic explanations for things that we once thought were supernatural and immaterial.
Q: But naturalistic/materialistic explanations are the only type permitted as mechanisms in science anyway.
A: Yes.
Q: Why is that again?
Related posts:
Bradley Monton on Methodological Naturalism
Richard Lewontin on Methodological Naturalism & Scientism
Capt. Haddock
on April 5th, 2011
This contrived exchange is a silly travesty of the actual stance of natural science.
Natural science only got off the ground at the Renaissance because people realised that through experiment and observation they could find NATURAL patterns that could explain things – as opposed to just waving your hands and saying everything was God’s work, which obviously shuts down enquiry. Most religious scientists (of whom there are many) understand this and have no trouble working in this framework.?
Science merely describes the order we find and makes models that offer testable predictions. It has nothing to say about meaning and purpose in the world. Furthermore, since scientific method axiomatically excludes the supernatural, it is silent on whether or not there may be a God.
Alister McGrath, in Dawkins’ God, makes the point that embrace of atheism is just as much an act of faith as religious belief! Science cannot arbitrate.