Three World Views of Human Existence

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According to Edward Wilson, the desire of mankind to explain their origins has led to three dominant worldviews that attempt to explain human existence and present condition. These three worldviews are God-centered religion, political behaviorism, and scientific humanism. However, these views fail to recognize another increasingly popular worldview known as Intelligent Design. Because the theory of Intelligent Design hinges on the premise that human existence is the direct consequence of a supernatural “intelligent designer” who designed the world and all of its complex organisms, that in turn are made up of complex parts designed purposefully by this “intelligent designer”, Wilson has lumped this theory in with the God-centered creation worldview (par. 12). However, proponents of Intelligent Design differ from traditional Creationists in the idea that they are attempting to put a scientific stamp on their theory. Proponents of this theory conduct scientific research to ferret out facts that scientifically support their theory. As Intelligent Design attempts to meld Creationism and Darwinism, it certainly should be addressed as an independent worldview from those examined by Wilson. As individual principals go, there are none so staunchly supported and stubbornly held to as those regarding the beginning of life. Because religion relies on the blind faith that mankind epitomizes God’s creative power and our present condition has likewise been guided by his hand, political behaviorism relies on the theory that humans are simply blank slates, free from the bindings of religious dogma and evolving genetic imprinting and are able to be molded and imprinted with the “best” political ideals, and scientific humanism relies on the ...

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...elligent Design. While it is reasonable to associate Intelligent Design with Creationism, the two differ in the fact that proponents of Intelligent Design seek to explain existence not only through the existence of a natural designer, but also through scientific research and supporting evidence. Because the theory attempts to merge God-centered religious based views and scientific views, it should be assigned an independent world view. That being said, it remains that there is no common ground between the three worldviews and because both political behaviorism and Creationism have no scientific basis for explanation they are wholly incompatible with science. As long as the scientific community continues to recognize that “the battle line is, as it has ever been, in biology”, as Wilson states, there can be no compatibility between the three world views (par. 23).

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