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Monday, July 09, 2007

Ideas: Francis Beckwith on "the Irrationality of Dawkins"

Francis Beckwith (yes, yes, the one who had the tenure struggle at Baylor), takes issue with Darwinist atheist Richard Dawkins savaging Bryan U's creationist paleontologist Kurt Wise:
Dawkins harshly criticizes Wise for embracing a religious belief that results in Wise's not treating himself and his talents, intelligence, and abilities in a way appropriate for their full flourishing. That is, given the opportunity to hone and nurture certain gifts—for example, intellectual skill—no one, including Wise, should waste them as a result of accepting a false belief. The person who violates, or helps violate, this norm, according to Dawkins, should be condemned, and we should all bemoan this tragic moral neglect on the part of our fellow(s). But the issuing of that judgment on Wise by Dawkins makes sense only in light of Wise's particular talents and the sort of being Wise is by nature, a being who Dawkins seems to believe possesses certain intrinsic capacities and purposes that if prematurely disrupted results in an injustice.

So Dawkins knows just enough about traditional views of life, the mind, and intellectual freedom to use them to attack someone he disagrees with? (Don't) stop the presses.

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