Agnosticism
Agnosticism claims that neither truth nor God can be known. They don’t necessarily deny that either exists, they only deny that either can be known. There are several problems with this philosophy about truth:
(1) It is a self-destructive argument. One who holds to this philosophy fails to realize that he already possesses some knowledge about truth and God, i.e. that God and/or truth can’t be known. If agnostics are right, they would not be able to make such a statement because it contains knowledge about God. If we cannot know God, then how is it that we know we cannot know God since knowledge about God is implied in such a statement? Clearly, we would have to know something about God to know that He is unknowable.
(2) “Truth cannot be known by man,” is that a truth statement? In other words, if I am an agnostic and I believe I can’t know truth, then how do I know that what I am saying and what I believe (agnosticism) is true? Ironically, agnostics claim truth cannot be known by using truth statements.
(3) “Neither truth nor God can be known” is a negative statement. As Geisler states, “Remember, every negative statement presupposes positive knowledge.”[4] By making a negative statement about truth or God, the agnostic presupposes truth about both God and truth. For example, if I tell you that your car is not blue, by making a negative statement about the color of the car, it is presupposed that I actually do have a positive knowledge about the actual color of the car. If I didn’t, then why would I make the negative statement in the first place?
Scientism
Moreland writes, “Scientism is the view that science is the only paradigm of truth and rationality. If something does not square with currently well-established scientific beliefs, if it is not within the domain of things appropriate for scientific investigation, or if it is not amenable to scientific methodology, then it is not true or rational. Everything outside of science is a matter of mere belief and subjective opinion, of which rational assessment is impossible. Science, exclusively and ideally, is our model of intellectual excellence.”[5]
Scientism holds that the most authoritative and valuable area, in terms of human learning, is science. There are also those within scientism who go as far as to say that there is no truth apart from scientific truth. As far as scientism is concerned, any other intellectual activities are considered and regarded as inferior to science. Nothing should be regarded as true, in fact, it should be regarded as irrational, if science cannot verify it or at least shed some light on it. There are a few problems with scientism:
(1) Scientism refutes itself. Scientism claims that only scientific propositions are true and rational. The curious thing is that it uses a philosophical argument to make its claims, rather than verified scientific propositions. So nothing is true unless science can verify it except the philosophical non-scientific statements they make. How ludicrous! Scientism’s (a non-verified and non-verifiable for that matter) claim is true, but no other such claim is. How can scientism be true when it uses a self-refuting proposition to make its case?
(2) Scientism is no friend of science but rather its foe because the very task of stating and defending the very propositions for science, as stated previously, are philosophical ones. In other words, “neither the propositions themselves nor their defense are a scientific matter”[6]. Scientism states that only its claims are true and rational (a philosophical proposition) yet such claims are not proven scientifically. Their whole argument rests on philosophical propositions rather than on scientific proof, therefore, science itself is undermined by the very arguments of scientism.
(3) If there is no truth outside of scientific truth, how then do we reconcile the fact that there is the existence of true and rationally justified beliefs outside of science? For example, “beating senior citizens is wrong.”
[4] Norman Geisler & Joseph Holden, Living Loud: Defending Your Faith (Broadman & Holman: Nashville, 2002), p. 32.
[5] J P Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 144.
Agnosticism claims that neither truth nor God can be known. They don’t necessarily deny that either exists, they only deny that either can be known. There are several problems with this philosophy about truth:
(1) It is a self-destructive argument. One who holds to this philosophy fails to realize that he already possesses some knowledge about truth and God, i.e. that God and/or truth can’t be known. If agnostics are right, they would not be able to make such a statement because it contains knowledge about God. If we cannot know God, then how is it that we know we cannot know God since knowledge about God is implied in such a statement? Clearly, we would have to know something about God to know that He is unknowable.
(2) “Truth cannot be known by man,” is that a truth statement? In other words, if I am an agnostic and I believe I can’t know truth, then how do I know that what I am saying and what I believe (agnosticism) is true? Ironically, agnostics claim truth cannot be known by using truth statements.
(3) “Neither truth nor God can be known” is a negative statement. As Geisler states, “Remember, every negative statement presupposes positive knowledge.”[4] By making a negative statement about truth or God, the agnostic presupposes truth about both God and truth. For example, if I tell you that your car is not blue, by making a negative statement about the color of the car, it is presupposed that I actually do have a positive knowledge about the actual color of the car. If I didn’t, then why would I make the negative statement in the first place?
Scientism
Moreland writes, “Scientism is the view that science is the only paradigm of truth and rationality. If something does not square with currently well-established scientific beliefs, if it is not within the domain of things appropriate for scientific investigation, or if it is not amenable to scientific methodology, then it is not true or rational. Everything outside of science is a matter of mere belief and subjective opinion, of which rational assessment is impossible. Science, exclusively and ideally, is our model of intellectual excellence.”[5]
Scientism holds that the most authoritative and valuable area, in terms of human learning, is science. There are also those within scientism who go as far as to say that there is no truth apart from scientific truth. As far as scientism is concerned, any other intellectual activities are considered and regarded as inferior to science. Nothing should be regarded as true, in fact, it should be regarded as irrational, if science cannot verify it or at least shed some light on it. There are a few problems with scientism:
(1) Scientism refutes itself. Scientism claims that only scientific propositions are true and rational. The curious thing is that it uses a philosophical argument to make its claims, rather than verified scientific propositions. So nothing is true unless science can verify it except the philosophical non-scientific statements they make. How ludicrous! Scientism’s (a non-verified and non-verifiable for that matter) claim is true, but no other such claim is. How can scientism be true when it uses a self-refuting proposition to make its case?
(2) Scientism is no friend of science but rather its foe because the very task of stating and defending the very propositions for science, as stated previously, are philosophical ones. In other words, “neither the propositions themselves nor their defense are a scientific matter”[6]. Scientism states that only its claims are true and rational (a philosophical proposition) yet such claims are not proven scientifically. Their whole argument rests on philosophical propositions rather than on scientific proof, therefore, science itself is undermined by the very arguments of scientism.
(3) If there is no truth outside of scientific truth, how then do we reconcile the fact that there is the existence of true and rationally justified beliefs outside of science? For example, “beating senior citizens is wrong.”
[4] Norman Geisler & Joseph Holden, Living Loud: Defending Your Faith (Broadman & Holman: Nashville, 2002), p. 32.
[5] J P Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 144.
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