Beware of Evolutionism
Many thinkers labor under the illusion that evolution is an empirical science when in fact it is a philosophy. Macro-evolution is a philosophy whose naturalistic tenets were spelled out by the man Charles Darwin referred to as “our great philosopher,” Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Spencer came upon his philosophy while meditating on the waves in a pond one Sunday morning–something that no doubt would not have happened had he been in church meditating on the Word of God!
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There's no such thing as "macro-evolution." There is just evolution, plain & simple. And I'd much rather meditate on the waves of a pond rather than being stuck inside a church on Sunday morning being force-fed 2000-year-old superstition.
And BTW, I wouldn't call mountains of evidence philosophy and not science.
The meaning of the word "philosophy" has changed over time, particularly with regard to the natural sciences. Outside of a book badly translated from ancient Hebrew and koine Greek into Early Modern English, things like that happen.
So, essentially , what you are saying is that Darwin's research is invalidated by someone else's opinion of him.
You fail hard at arguments don't you?
Spencer came upon his philosophy while meditating on the waves in a pond one Sunday morningsomething that no doubt would not have happened had he been in church meditating on the Word of God!
I fail to see how that little story helps your case for religion - the only moral I can derive from it is "There's a whole lot of fascinating, beautiful things you can learn and draw inspiration from in this world, and you'll happen upon a lot more of them if you get your head out of your arse and your arse out of church."
Oh, wait - I forgot for a moment that, from your perspective, anything beautiful or inspiring that isn't directly connected to gawd, by definition either cannot possibly exist or is irredeemably evil.
Oh, and back then I think "science" was still used pretty interchangably with "natural philosophy."
For Spencer, evolution was a philosophy. He applied the concept to all sorts of fields, and is probably the father of what is sometimes called "social Darwinism". When fundies claim evolution inspired Hitler, they're really arguing with Spencer, not Darwin.
"Many thinkers labor under the illusion that evolution is an empirical science when in fact it is a philosophy."
A "natural philosophy", perhaps, and if you were to carry out even the most cursory of searches for "Herbert Spencer" you'd find that he wasn't "just" a philosopher, he was a polymath who contributed to many fields, including biology. He also got some things wrong (he coined the phrase "survival of the fittest", something ignorant and dishonest fundies latch on to when trying to link Darwin and Hitler.)
Evolutionary biology uses the exact same methodology as every other science, i.e. methodological naturalism - it's not a philosophy or a world-view or a religion, it's science and investigates and tries to explain *natural* phenomena using *natural* causes. Why? Because in the entire history of humanity we have *never*, *ever* witness a supernatural phenomenon. Not once. Ever. That's why. And that's why appeals to the supernatural to explain the most simple of facts are entirely worthless.
You can't have your cake and eat it; if you reject the Theory of Evolution as science, you reject *all* science. To avoid being a hypocrite, please immediately stop using anything invented or discovered after, say - to be very generous - the 1850's.
"...something that no doubt would not have happened had he been in church meditating on the Word of God!"
God does not exist, therefore the word of God cannot exist.
Wow. Not only does this idiot have no idea what evolution is or what the theory says, he's also ignorant of the fact that most church services don't last the full six hours from 6AM to noon!
I wonder what he'd say if Spencer had, in fact, gone to the pond just before or just after going to church? And if everything was created from God's mouth a la Gen. 1-2, wouldn't the pool technically be "God's word" just as much as the Bible?
And wasn't the "curse on Ham"--a story from the Bible --used by many eugenicists (i.e., racists) to "justify" their social-Darwinist idiocy?
Man, I can think of so many ways to shoot down Geisler successfully without even getting into his ignorance about evolution that it's just sad.
..and Nichola Tesla came up with AC theory and the AC motor idea while staring at the ground one day deep in his thoughts.
..and if he was in church, it might not have been any different..but, Nichola (like many other genius' of his type) gave up religion when they started to get more into their studies.
This is because the term "scientist" is actually fairly new; most of the people we now call "scientists" would have been called "natural philosophers" in the 1700s and much of the 1800s.
People have, however, guessed that evolution occurs for millennia, dating back to Aristotle. Darwin just happened to provide the best evidence.
In addition, "naturalism" is inherently required in science because science studies the natural world, i.e. everything that can be demonstrated to exist.
Oh, so by saying you think "macro-evolution" doesn't exist, then you may believe micro-evolution exists? Shut the hell up. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
And "evolutionism"? It's a fucking scientific theory, not a religion, you nutjob. Go back to school...junior high, at least.
It doesn´t matter what Charles Darwin did,it doesn´t matter what Herbert Spencer did.
I assume for you fundies it is a hard to grasp concept that in science theories are more or less independent from their founder. There were enough other scientists after Charles Darwin, who worked on the theory to confirm it and to expand it.
And in the > 100 years of its existence there never has been anything which would confirm scientists working in the field of evolutionary biology, that the biological world around us can be better explainedby creationism than by the ToE ;)
And they say Newton came up with his ideas while sitting under an apple tree.* So yeah, that wouldn't of happened either if he was sitting in a church.
*Yes I know the story isn't true, just trying to make a point.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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