Letter to First Things
Tue, 9 Jan 2001 12:22:58 -0600
rkoons@mail.utexas.edu (Robert C. Koons)
(unpublished)

To the editors:

I was disappointed by Father Oakes's review of _The Wedge of Truth_ by
Phillip E. Johnson.  Oakes seems to have committed a logical error,
occasioned by his use of Cardinal Newman's aphorism, "I believe in design
because I believe in God, not in God because I see design." Johnson clearly
does not believe in design simply because he believes in God -- he thinks,
and I agree, that the design of the universe and of many living things can
be verified scientifically, without dependence on any special theological
presuppositions. Ergo, Oakes infers, Johnson must believe in God _simply_
because he sees design, and for no other reason.   For those of us who are
familiar with Johnson's work, this conclusion is blatantly false.  Oakes
has committed the fallacy of false dilemma, erroneously assuming that the
two parts of Newman's aphorism exhaust all possibilities.  It is serious
error (and an uncharitable one) to assume that those of us who belong to
the intelligent design movement think that our belief in God _depends_ on
evidence for design.  Many of us, Johnson included, think no such thing. As
Johnson has clearly stated, biology informed by the recognition of
intelligent design is "theism-friendly" in a way that doctrinaire
naturalism is not. The existence of verifiable design is certainly
compatible with theism (and with Christianity in particular), and it
certainly gives some support to theism. However, as Newman himself
recognized and articulated so brilliantly in _The Grammar of Assent_, the
reasonableness of theism in general and of Christianity in particular is
the result of the convergence of a large number of evidences and reasons,
of which design is only  a  part.

In any event, Father Oakes's complaint seems to be, not with Phillip
Johnson, but with St. Thomas, who committed the blunder (by Oakes's lights)
of including the argument from design as one of his five ways by which the
existence of God may be demonstrated.

Respectfully,

Robert C. Koons
Austin, Texas

Rob Koons, Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1180
(512) 471-5530; fax 471-4806

Personal web page:
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/koons/main.html