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June 20, 2005
Who is Speaking to the Muddled Middle?
I've been thinking about Alex Tabarrok's post, "Theism versus Evolution," on Marginal Revolution. PZ Myers criticizes it on Pharyngula. Tabarrok claims that
Only creationists and atheist evolutionists are consistent, everyone else is in a muddle.
PZ seems to like this idea but correctly attacks Tabarrok's use of the watchmaker analogy, his confounding "knowing" something by faith and "knowing" something by evidence and logic and the false dichotomy that that entails.
However, there is something positive to learn by reflecting on this underlying false dichotomy in Tabarrok's post. While the dichotomy between knowing by faith and knowing by evidence is clearly false, it is just as clearly a significant part of the cultural matrix in which the war over science is now taking place. While many scientists don't like it, a significant ongoing battle in that war involves who is doing the better job of marketing their ideas to the muddled.
Tabarrok's remark,
It's no point telling these people (those who strongly believe that god exists) that creationism is unscientific because given the premise that god(s) exists creationism is scientific,
is almost correct. I would say,
It's no point telling creationists that creationism is unscientific because they consistently substitute faith for evidence and logic.
I'm sure my rewriting of Tabarrok's sentence is far from what he intended. However, I think we agree that there is no point in telling creationists that creationism is unscientific. Tabarrok is wrong in thinking that creationists believe creationism to be scientific. The fact is, they just don't care if it is scientific or not.
In the cultural war, creationists talk to each other and market to the muddled middle. They speak directly to scientists only when it is helpful to their marketing effort. With few exceptions, scientists tend to speak to each other (that's OK) and occasionally to/at creationists but seldom do they attempt to market to the muddled middle. It is exactly this muddled middle that provides the majority in elections. They are the ones that will make the efforts of scientists easier or harder. Of course, because evidence and logic always wins in the end, neither the muddled middle nor the creationists will win the war. But how long it takes to get to that end will be determined by the muddled middle.
Posted by DuaneSmith at June 20, 2005 11:30 AM | Read more on Evolution |
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Just when I thought it would be a totally sarcastic night, Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution has a thought-provoking post tonight on theism versu...
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