A Darwinist Mob Goes After a Serious Philosopher

New Republic ^ | 3/8/13 | LEON WIESELTIER

[dirtboy]

s there a greater gesture of intellectual contempt than the notion that a tweet constitutes an adequate intervention in a serious discussion? But when Thomas Nagel’s formidable book Mind and Cosmos recently appeared, in which he has the impudence to suggest that “the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false,” and to offer thoughtful reasons to believe that the non-material dimensions of life—consciousness, reason, moral value, subjective experience—cannot be reduced to, or explained as having evolved tidily from, its material dimensions, Steven Pinker took to Twitter and haughtily ruled that it was “the shoddy reasoning of a once-great thinker.” **** him, he explained.

Here was a signal to the Darwinist dittoheads that a mob needed to be formed. In an earlier book Nagel had dared to complain of “Darwinist imperialism,” though in his scrupulous way he added that “there is really no reason to assume that the only alternative to an evolutionary explanation of everything is a religious one.” He is not, God forbid, a theist. But he went on to warn that “this may not be comforting enough” for the materialist establishment, which may find it impossible to tolerate also “any cosmic order of which mind is an irreducible and non-accidental part.” For the bargain-basement atheism of our day, it is not enough that there be no God: there must be only matter. Now Nagel’s new book fulfills his old warning. A mob is indeed forming, a mob of materialists, of free-thinking inquisitors.

[snip]

It is bad for the left’s own culture war. Whose side is he on, anyway? Almost taunting the materialist left, which teaches skepticism but not self-skepticism,

[dirtboy]

Almost taunting the materialist left, which teaches skepticism but not self-skepticism

Classic.

[dirtboy]

The Heretic - Who is Thomas Nagel and why are so many of his fellow academics condemning him?

[Lets Roll NOW]

The God haters are not very tolerant.

[Shadow44]

Modern philosophy is an intellectual desert. Postmodernism has been deconstructed to the point of empty parlor room word games.

I used to think that Postmodernism might be fading away, but what could come after such vapidness?

Maybe this is the start of a new beginning.

[Para-Ord.45]

bm

[Vaquero]

The clay became man at the moment in which a being for the first time was capable of forming, however dimly, the thought of “God”. The first Thou that—however stammeringly—was said by human lips to God marks the moment in which the spirit arose in the world. Here the Rubicon of anthropogenesis was crossed. For it is not the use of weapons or fire, not new methods of cruelty or of useful activity, that constitute man, but rather his ability to be immediately in relation to God. This holds fast to the doctrine of the special creation of man ... herein ... lies the reason why the moment of anthropogenesis cannot possibly be determined by paleontology: anthropogenesis is the rise of the spirit, which cannot be excavated with a shovel. The theory of evolution does not invalidate the faith, nor does it corroborate it. But it does challenge the faith to understand itself more profoundly and thus to help man to understand himself and to become increasingly what he is: the being who is supposed to say Thou to God in eternity.

— Joseph Ratzinger

[HerrBlucher]

the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false

Absolutely! However, if the materialism is true there would be no way to know that it is true because Reason would then be invalid and merely the epiphenomenon of blind irrational forces i.e chemical reactions, eletromagnetic waves etc. Reason, in order to be valid, MUST be independent of nature. This was very clearly explained in C.S. Lewis's book "Miracles."

Clear thinking Atheists know this but just cannot give up on Atheism regardless of its glaring, in your face, falsity. So they throw tantrums instead.

[sphinx]

bttt

[Albion Wilde]

HerrBlucher (Praise to the Lord the Almighty the King of Creation)

Amen to your tagline. Seems apropos on this thread. Let the materialists argue among themselves. It "matters" not. Dust to dust.

[trebb]

Almost taunting the materialist left, which teaches skepticism but not self-skepticism Classic.

Yep - just as "An unexamined life is not worth living" displays how worthless the Left is - they examine everyone but themselves.

[mjp]

A mob is indeed forming, a mob of materialists

To be a materialist, one has to believe that

1) omething came from nothing
2) natural law, symmetry, order, and beauty came from primordial disorder
3) organization came from utterly random primordial disorganization
4) consciousness,free will, and reason came from matter
5) life came from from non-life or inanimate chemicals
6) anthrropic coninidences came from chance
7) man, from pond scum
8) human knowledge and human values came from a universe without absolutes and without absolute truth

[Fightin Whitey]

bimp

[22cal]

Bookmarked!

[Zeneta]

keeper.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Absolutely! However, if the materialism is true there would be no way to know that it is true because Reason would then be invalid and merely the epiphenomenon of blind irrational forces i.e chemical reactions, eletromagnetic waves etc. Reason, in order to be valid, MUST be independent of nature.

Ditto bump

[Zeneta]

Thanks for posting the source of the materialism vs. reason paradox.

[redpoll]

Thank you for posting that on this fine Palm Sunday morning up here in Alaska.

[mick]

Well said!!

[Shery]

it is always thrilling to watch the left become unhinged over something. there is so much to learn by watching them! any astute watcher would realize just how narrow-minded and close-minded they really are. they have memorized their talking points and beyond that, there is no reasoning to be done, so they mock, denigrate, profane, and retaliate against the supposed offender. we should encourage the ‘mocked’ to just step back and let the left carry on. what they accidentally do, is to cause some to wake up to reality.

[SMCC1]

Should be a Doctor of the Church someday. Totally unappreciated by the modern world. His writings are brilliant.