Friday, January 15, 2021

Naturalism? You've just undercut yourself, pal.

 In a remarkable talk, Alvin Plantinga in 1996 showed that naturalism contains its own 'undercutting' defeater: that is on its own premises it destroys the warrant for its own belief system.

Bill Craig enlarged on it somewhat in answer to a question on it.

The argument develops  C. S. Lewis' observation that Grand Theory Evolution (GTE) only provides warrant for belief that we are adapted for maximum survival value in the circumstances (or minimal survival disadvantage). There is no warrant to extend this belief to a hold that we have the cognitive equipment to come to true beliefs about anything, including the very survival that we seem to be limited to asserting.

All we can say is that GTE goes to survival, but not to true understanding of anything that is not survival.

QED, your position on naturalism, oh naturalist, undercuts your position on evolution (the mechanics of naturalism).

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