Evolution, Science & Religion (Evolution)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Sunday, June 17, 2012, 23:34 (4328 days ago) @ dhw

Here and in your latest response to Romansh you are arguing against materialism, but that is not the subject you and I are discussing! I stated explicitly in the post to which you are replying: "the overall quest for so-called "truth" does not entail one branch of knowledge excluding others, or even taking precedence over others" ... see also my next quote:-Agreed. They are equal. They all are different perspectives. They are not mutually exclusive or inclusive. -> 
> DHW: There are many forms of understanding ... intuitive, spiritual, purely materialistic, theistic ... and while some may overlap, some cannot possibly agree. 
> 
> TONY: If you do not KNOW it from all of those angles then you do not UNDERSTAND it.
> 
> As far as we are aware, nobody UNDERSTANDS it, from no matter which angle or how many angles. Only blinkered fundamentalists (religious and anti-religious) even CLAIM to understand it. Every single world view is subjective, and unless there really is a God and he decides to tell us the whole story, we shall never know the objective truth. -Agreed. No one currently understands it, from any angle. I do not claim to understand it myself. I only posit that understanding can only come from the application of all of the disciplines in a unified manner. -
> And that is the source of most of our misunderstandings in this discussion. You have an anti-materialist agenda, but I am not defending or attacking materialism any more than I am defending or attacking the study of ancient texts. I am merely saying that if I want to study the material world, I'll turn to science, and if I want to study the non-material aspects of the world, I'll turn to philosophy. Neither will give me the objective truth, but perhaps I'll find a subjective world view that satisfies me. We will never ever be able to unify all world views, i.e. there can never ever be "unity between the various schools of thought". That can only happen if there is a God who chooses to enlighten us.-Surpisingly enough, my agenda is not actually anti-materialist, though I know it seems that way. I am not even certain I would call it an agenda, as I have absolutely nothing to lose or gain from anyone sharing my worldview. My perspective, though, is that a unilateral world view based solely on materialism or naturalism is dysfunctional, and that the evidence of that dysfunction is all around us. This same argument could be applied to any of the disciplines; theology, philosophy etc. A unilateral materialistic world view is precisely the mentality that the militant atheist like Dawkins are proposing, and is also the prevailing mindset of the world today. Hence the reason that it has been the focus of my discussion. If the dominant philosophy was religion and it was being applied unilaterally to our destruction, I would be arguing against it just as hard. There is a very very good reason that I chose the screen name Balance_Maintained. I think that sums up my position.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.