Argument
Evolutionary argument against naturalism
Overview
The evolutionary argument against naturalism (EAAN) is a philosophical argument asserting a problem with believing both evolution and philosophical naturalism simultaneously. The argument was first formally proposed by Alvin Plantinga in 1993. The EAAN argues that the combined belief in both evolutionary theory and naturalism is epistemically self-defeating. The argument states that if both evolution and naturalism are true, then the probability of having reliable cognitive faculties is low, which then destroys any reason to believe in evolution or naturalism in the first place, as the cognitive faculties one used to deduce evolution or naturalism as logically valid are no longer reliable. The argument "raises issues of interest to epistemologists, philosophers of mind, evolutionary biologists, and philosophers of religion". It comes as an expansion of the argument from reason, although the two are separate philosophical arguments.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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XXI. That the duration alone of our life is sufficient to demonstrate the existence of God. The truth of this demonstration will clearly appear, provided we consider the nature of time, or the duration of things; for this is of such a kind that its parts are not mutually dependent, and never co-existent; and,…
René Descartes, Selections from the Principles of Philosophy
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Nevertheless, this difficulty, though appearing to our imagination insuperably great, cannot be considered real if we admit the following propositions, namely,—that gradations in the perfection of any organ or instinct, which we may consider, either do now exist or could have existed, each good of its kind,—that all organs and instincts are, in ever so slight a degree, variable,—and, lastly, that there is a struggle…
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection
Close in meaning to Evolutionary argument against naturalism; the term itself is not named.
The expulsion of fixed first and final causes from astronomy, physics, and chemistry had indeed given the doctrine something of a shock. But, on the other hand, increased acquaintance with the details of plant and animal life operated as a counterbalance and perhaps even strengthened the argument from design. The marvelous adaptations of organisms to their environment, of organs to the organism, of unlike parts of a…
John Dewey, The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, and other essays in contemporary thought
Close in meaning to Evolutionary argument against naturalism; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Evolutionary argument against naturalism
Related ideas
- Miracles (book)
- Michael Ruse
- Intelligent design
- Truth value
- Cartesian doubt
- Mind–body dualism
- Materialism
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Conditional probability
- Jaegwon Kim
- Quantum mechanics
- René Descartes
- Thomas Reid
- Theodicy
- Empirical evidence
- Theism
- University of California, Berkeley
- William Alston
- Richard Clyde Taylor
- Elliott Sober
- Eliminative materialism
- Supervenience
- Ernest Sosa
- Jerry Fodor
Place in the tradition
Part of American philosophy.
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