[Alamo-Girl]

But for those who wade into such murky waters, some of us have more fun than cats!

I'm so glad you do, dearest sister in Christ, and it is quite illuminating and entertaining for the spectators!

So I just figure that any scientist (or other sort of person) who tells you that the only things in the world that are "real" are those things which can be directly or indirectly "measured" must have some epistemically prior commitment that puts him in the category of "ideologist."

I very strongly agree! Indeed, it brings to mind what Lewontin said:

"Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. "

"Adaptation"

[betty boop]

Thank you so very much, dearest sister in Christ, for posting Richard Lewontin's remarks. THIS is what I'm "anti," not science itself. I think Lewontin's statement indicates an abuse of science. And certainly it is clear that the statement indicates an "epistemically prior commitment": Materialism is "absolute." And it has to be absolute, so as to leave zero chance of any Divine Foot getting in the door....

But what kind of "science" starts with a stacked deck like this?

Lewontin is a highly respected professor of evolutionary biology and genetics, formerly at MIT, and now at Harvard. It gives me fits to think that two of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in America find him fit to profess biology to young, uninformed minds.

Oh well. The degradation of our culture proceeds apace.

Thank you so very much for writing!