Intelligence (Origins)

by dhw, Sunday, March 24, 2013, 11:45 (4260 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: David has quoted Fred Hoyle's argument in favour of design. It is as convincing as your own arguments, David, and should put anyone off being an atheist. You have also pointed out that Hoyle was a life-long agnostic. Why do you think he was an agnostic and not a theist?-DAVID: Because, like you, he cannot imagine the source of the design, or be willing to go beyond the acceptance that design occurred. It is like racing to the edge of the cliff and screeching to a halt. That is why faith is compared to leaping across the chasm.-A nicely slanted answer. Theists love quoting Hoyle, and atheists love quoting Darwin, and generally both sides blithely ignore the fact that both men were agnostics. So too, by many accounts, was Einstein. I'm not sure about screeching to a halt at the edge of the chasm, though. I suspect that many agnostics, like myself, do not race at all, but sit patiently in the middle of the bridge, listening with gentle tolerance and mild rationality to the huffing and puffing of the jumpers on both sides.-********-I see you and Tony have been leaping around while I've been snoozing on my bridge. I shall reply in due course.