(May 3, 2014 at 5:57 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: Ontological naturalism does not exclude intentionality from physical processes. In fact, it's those physical processes that perhaps for the first time brought intentionality into the Universe through the evolution of brains…What else is a human brain good for if not creating meaning?!I am not arguing that intentionality is not a feature found in reality. I do say that theories based on ontological naturalism (or just naturalism) are inconsistent with the fact that intentionality is part of our reality.
Since the time of Francis Bacon, natural science has proceeded on the assumption that all physical processes can be fully described using only two the four Aristotelian causes: efficient and material cause. In biology, this culminates in Richard Dawkins‘s book, “The Blind Watchmaker”. Evolutionary processes do not seek desired ends any more than the planets do in their revolutions around the sun. To have a consistent worldview, the naturalist must apply the same rules to all evolved features regardless of whether it is the horn of the rhino or human prefrontal cortex.
As it relates to this this thread, meaning is a particular kind of intentionality. The atheistic claim is that life can have meaning without God. Leaving aside whether the ultimate source of meaning comes from a Supreme Being or not, the naturalist that a says his life has meaning cannot do so without making reference to the very intentionality that he denies.
(May 3, 2014 at 5:57 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: I also don't know what you mean by a transcendent or eternal value.Sure you do. Here I am talking about purpose, a second type of intentionality. Purpose is the final end someone seeks to achieve. If the final end endures without ceasing, I call that eternal. For example, the Great Commission charges Christians with the specific purpose of helping win souls for the Kingdom, which if true, produces permanent results with never-ending repercussions. If atheism is true, then humans accomplishments have no lasting value. Buildings decay. Monuments topple. Legacies wither. The sun explodes and everyone dies. Confronted with the vanity of earthly existence, the atheist cannot hope that the purpose for which they live has any value beyond the immediate future. In contrast to this, Christians can have such hope.
