User:Daelin/Draft of Scientific Materialism

Scientific materialism or methodological materialism are interchangable dysphemisms for methodological naturalism (sometimes: scientific naturalism). The term implies that scientists collude to force a materialist (or rationalist) worldview onto a population.

The term is usually only used by critics of the scientific discipline, such as the proponents of intelligent design. The term has become somewhat more common, as laymen are introduced to the creation–evolution controversy through the Discovery Institute's framing of the language. Scientists and philosophers never use the term, as it is vaguely defined, conflicts with established language, and introduces both ambiguity and negative connotations.

Why the term exists

The term exists to imply that scientific naturalism is equivalent to the philosophy of materialism, and especially the pseudo-religious social movements around the concept. Much more than that, it implies association with atheism and Marxism due to Karl Marx' explicit use of materialist philosophy in his writings on history.

In other words, to use the term scientific materialism is to assert that science rejects any form of supernatural deity.

Scientific naturalism

Philosophically, the scientific process operates on the working assumption of naturalism. That is the idea that observable events in nature are explainable only by natural causes.

Science makes no statement about the supernatural. However, the philosophy of naturalism supposes that if the supernatural exists, it is not inherently different than the natural, and is governed by the same fundamental laws of nature.

Science adopts this principle as a practical matter. In order to develop a line of inquiry, one must assume that the there is an answer. If an answer reflects a universal truth, it must be repeatable and verifiable anywhere in the universe where the same conditions apply. Therefore, to search for truth, a scientist must assume that all natural events have natural causes.

The criticism

Opponents of the scientific discipline assert that, because science omits the supernatural as a valid cause, science will reach incorrect conclusions when the truth is not materialistic.

The typical example presented is the origin of species. Proponents of Intelligent Design assert that life was created by an agency outside of nature. Their claim is that this theory is being censored by the "invalid" assumption of scientific naturalism. It appears reasonable to conclude that the intervention of a deity is scientifically untestable in their view. The only form of "evidence" presented so far have been refuted criticisms of evolution, which say nothing about their alternative theory. However, it is claimed by ID proponents that Intelligent Design is in fact science.