Ten Presuppositions of Science - Apologetics 315

Here is a post from Brian Auten listing 10 basic presuppositions of science. These are assumptions that many people take for grant it. I don't think that all of them are necessarily true but I think many people believe it.

Here is a list of some of the presuppositions of science:

(1) the existence of a theory-independent, external world;
(2) the orderly nature of the external world;
(3) the knowability of the external world;
(4) the existence of truth;
(5) the laws of logic;
(6) the reliability of our cognitive and sensory faculties to serve as truth gatherers and as a source of justified true beliefs in our intellectual environment;
(7) the adequacy of language to describe the world;
(8) the existence of values used in science (e.g., "test theories fairly and report test results honestly");
(9) the uniformity of nature and induction;
(10) the existence of numbers.1

1. William Lane Craig & J.P. Moreland, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), pp. 348.

The one presupposition that I can't fully agree with is number 6 because sin greatly diminishes our cognitive abilities to understand truth. And given that our sensory faculties are woefully inadequate because all of our senses can be fooled or give false information  - relying on them 100% to determine truth is extremely problematic.

Ten Presuppositions of Science - Apologetics 315

Presuppositions Presentation

Here is a lecture Dr James White gave on the presuppositions he used in a recent debate. He wrote the following by way of introduction.

I was asked to speak on the presuppositions of my debate with Robert Sungenis up in Newberg, Oregon, and here is the presentation I gave in response to the request. (The audio unsync'd for the first 2/3 of the presentation, then caught up...somehow).

Presuppositions Presentation

THE APOLOGETIC FRONT: Is William Craig a presuppositionalist?

I enjoyed Mike's post. I truly agree that William Lane Craig is not presuppositionalist but he is a gifted philosopher. This clip makes me wanna watch his debate against Peter Atkins because I agree with WLC's points that there are a lot of presuppositions that we all make and agree to do that can't be scientifically substantiated. The look on Atkin's face was priceless!





THE APOLOGETIC FRONT: Is William Craig a presuppositionalist?