epistemology, science, kinds of knowledge, methodology
An inference of intelligent design (ID), or any version of creationism, or whatever might hint at the supernatural is often considered a science stopper. See, for example, this and the final chapter of Stanley’s book reviewed earlier. Look at two key examples from the ID literature: Dembski’s design inference and Behe’s irreducible complexity inference. Do […]
Previous posts review Matthew Stanley’s book, which describes how theistic science was displaced by naturalistic science in 19th century Britain. He calls the latter “scientific naturalism,” which is accurate since it is a version of the philosophy, naturalism. It would be opposed by “scientific theism,” though I don’t think he uses that term, perhaps because
Part 7 is here. Chapter 7 is on how the naturalists “won.” In short, they pushed their agenda with their opponents hardly noticing. p. 242 – Huxley won. Modern science is practiced naturalistically, and most scientists would be baffled to think that there was any other way — precisely what the scientific naturalists were trying
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 8 Read More »
Part 6 is here. Chapter Six is on free will and natural laws. A philosophical dispute took center stage, with the future of science and society at stake. p. 194 – Victorian society’s base assumption was that the soul and will could act freely, whether to select a meal or to accept divine grace. Being
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 7 Read More »
Part 5 is here. Chapter Five is on Intellectual Freedom. p. 153 – The narrative presented by the scientific naturalists was one of liberation. Only with the escape from dogmatic theology was science able to pursue truth and accuracy. But this value was also widely held by religious figures, including Maxwell and his fellow theistic
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 6 Read More »
Part 4 is here. Chapter Four on the Goals of Science Education describes how Maxwell and Huxley each volunteered to teach at the Working Men’s College but for very different reasons. p. 119 – This idea that a religious intent is incompatible with science education is a major part of the educational side of modern
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 5 Read More »
Part 3 of this series is here. This post covers Chapter Three on the Limits of Science. Note: “man of science” was the common expression for scientist in Britain until the 20th c. p. 80 – Victorian science saw many dramatic shifts in what counted as “science,” and figures such as Huxley and Maxwell were
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 4 Read More »
Part 2 of this series is here. This post covers the last section of Chapter Two, which is on miracles. I offer some comments of my own at the end. p. 71 – Miracles Building on this reading of uniformity, the scientific naturalists thought they had one attack for which there was no counter. Miracles,
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 3 Read More »
Part 1 of this series is here. The excerpts below barely do justice to what is in the book. Chapter Two is on the uniformity of natural laws, also called the uniformity of nature. p. 34 – … the assumption that the universe was governed by uninterrupted laws was a fundamental part of natural philosophy.
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 2 Read More »
Huxley’s Church and Maxwell’s Demon: From Theistic Science to Naturalistic Science by Matthew Stanley (Univ. of Chicago Press, Nov. 2014) is basically the first book to tell the story of how science was redefined in the 19th century. Most people don’t know it even happened and few know how. I bought a copy of this
From theistic science to naturalistic science, part 1 Read More »
