Proof of ID: An essay (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, June 29, 2015, 13:52 (3435 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by dhw, Monday, June 29, 2015, 17:17

DAVID: Just accept that something must be eternal, no beginning, no end.-dhw: I did so long ago. What I do not accept - or reject - is the theory that the “something” (energy and matter?) has a mind.-DAVID: So what did it have to create progress to now?-dhw: An infinite number of material combinations which eventually led by chance or by some inner “panpsychist” mental aspect (see the post on consciousness) to organic life and evolution - again, theories which I neither accept nor reject.-DAVID: So actually you might accept some degree of 'chance' in your thinking? In panpsychism you are sneaking in some degree of 'mentation' which you reject when thinking about the possibility eternal mental energy. Interesting mental convolutions on your part to avoid choosing between chance or design.-What convolutions? Firstly, my particular panpsychist hypothesis relates to the evolution of individual forms of mentation within matter, which is totally different from a single eternal, sourceless, universal mind that deliberately creates and manipulates matter. Since mentation exists, it must have started somewhere! You believe that it started at the top, with your God, and I am suggesting it may have started at the bottom with certain materials.
 
Secondly, the three hypotheses (your God, chance, and the evolution of “mentation”) are ALTERNATIVES, which I neither accept nor reject. That is to say, I cannot decide which (if any) of them is true, and so I withhold judgement on all of them. After so many years, dear David, you still haven't understood what I mean by agnosticism!