
- Image by Feuillu via Flickr
The New Scientist reports that human beings exhibit “promiscuous teleology”, which is basically a generic, almost subconscious belief in a self-centered purpose of the external world. (This is another thing I refer to here. It’s so refreshing to learn the technical term for concepts I’ve realized.)
Examples of promiscuous teleology are: “Rocks are jagged so animals can scratch themselves” and “Birds exist to make nice music”. Or the kind a skeptical-Christian friend recalled was taught to her at a young age: “Plants are green to make them look pleasant to us.”
This sort of thinking is contrary to science, which is based on skepticism and inherently riviles all anthropocentric or teleological explanations. The New Scientist reports the experiment that shows how scientific education reduces such tendencies, yet education itself fails… and why most people on God’s green Earth are creationists.
It goes further and surprisingly reveals that even strong Atheists and scientists make those mistakes – which is what I’ve also criticized here. Now I wish God read this too, because I wrote it for her.

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6 comments
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March 4, 2009 at 6:26 pm
joeland7
thanks for the information. good site
March 4, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Salahudin al-Rawandi
you’re very welcome!
March 21, 2009 at 7:20 am
whirling Egoist
Informative
March 23, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Michael D. Griffin, a true scientist « Silsila Jahilliya
[...] what we see around us is “the way it is supposed to be”. That’s another form of parochial teleology. And humans are worse off because of it. [...]
April 29, 2009 at 4:19 am
Applying Platonic philosophy to the post-modern world « Silsila Jahilliya
[...] 29, 2009 in science | Tags: Plato, science, Socrates, teleology As I have mentioned earlier, parochial teleology is pervasive and contagious… but it is the product of our primitive [...]
May 21, 2009 at 5:46 pm
New Scientist authors exhibit promiscuous teleology « Silsila Jahilliya
[...] Promiscuous teleology, anyone? This is precisely why I criticize scientists and journalists with that beat! [...]