03-01-2011, 02:46 AM | #1 |
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Location: NOVA
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Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
Has anyone heard this Alvin Plantinga argument?
-Darwin's Doubt: Since our brains evolved from lower animals, how can we trust them? -Our nervous system was evolved for survival (reproduction, fleeing predators, metabolism, find food, etc.), not for finding truth. -Darwin's bulldog Huxley believed in epiphenomenalism: your beliefs have no effect on your behavior. So evolution does nothing to ensure you have true beliefs. -If epiphenomenalism is false, natural selection favors beliefs that lead to survival. -Say you are a caveman and you see a lion. (1) If you stay you will get eaten by the lion (true), so you run away. (2) You are running a marathon, and the lion is just a signal "on your mark, get set..." (false). (3) You think the lion is a cute little kitty (false) and you want to pet it, and the best way to pet it is to run away (false). Only (1) is a true belief. But even if you harbor (2) or (3), natural selection will favor that belief. So our brains aren't trustworthy.
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