(August 19, 2013 at 9:00 am)discipulus Wrote: One person persuades by the edge of the sword. Another by logical argument.
Both are acting in accordance with their desire and how they think persuasion is best accomplished. Both are doing what they find meaningful. Speaking atheistically for a moment, one is ultimately no better or worse off than the other.
What does "speaking atheistically" have to do with it? Is there an alternative way to "speak" that differs in meaning?
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
