"Scientists don’t talk often enough or loud enough about the real strength of evolution – not that it is correct, but that it meets the definition of science. … It is evolution’s acceptance of nature as the only true scientific authority and its capacity to fall in the face of a more effective explanation that make evolution science, far more than its mere correctness." From Cornelia Dean, How Quantum Physics Can Teach Biologists About Evolution, NY Times, July 5, 2005 (emphasis added).
Dean, former science editor for the Times, and apparently not an uncontroversial figure, observes (emphasis and bullets mine):
Science looks to explain nature through nature (the works of God rather than the words of God, as Darwin himself is said to have put it), and its predictions can be tested by observation and experimentation. * * *
This process has produced centuries of useful knowledge and fascinating discovery.
But it is messy, a mixed-up dance of[:]
- two steps forward, one step back;
- dud ideas;
- blind alleys;
- and things that turn out to be not exactly what they seemed. * * *
… This intellectual turmoil is not evidence of the weakness of the evolutionary thinking, as some critics have said. It is proof of the robustness of the scientific method.
Regular readers won’t be surprised when I quote, yet again, some scriptural precedent for the cautious mindset exemplified by the scientific method (emphasis mine):
You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." [Deut. 18:20–21, emphasis added]
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. [1 Thess. 5:19–21, emphasis added]
Leave a Reply