Biblical realism

Philosophical realism basically means that the objects of ordinary perception exist independently of our minds.  We apprehend objects independent of our understanding what happened or how they got here.  This common-sense realism is assumed by most people but denied by most philosophers since Descartes.

Observations of objects do not need interpretation for us to record that something is there or something happened.  Further investigation can answer the what and how questions.  Similarly, it is not necessary to delve into theological interpretations to find that the chronologies in the Bible are an accurate record of things that did happen and so should be acceptable to unbelievers and believers alike.  Anti-realists insist on knowing how things could have happened before they accept what exists or existed but for realists that is a secondary matter.

Creationism does not rise or fall on its interpretation of the evidence but on accepting the most accurate record of ancient chronology, the Bible.  In the 18th century anti-realists invented their own non-biblical account:  the myth that mankind was originally in a primitive “state of nature” and only gradually developed civilization.  Since it made sense to them, it had to be true.  They take the same approach to evolution and everything else: what should be true (to their thinking) must be true.

July 2013