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Evolutionary naturalism takes the inherent limitations of science and turns them into a devastating philosophical weapon: because science is our only real way of knowing anything, what science cannot know cannot be real.
Phillip E. Johnson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote critiques the limitations of science in understanding reality, suggesting that if science cannot explain something, it is deemed unreal.

Phillip E. Johnson argues that evolutionary naturalism views science as the sole authority on knowledge, asserting that anything beyond the scientific realm is considered non-existent. This perspective raises philosophical concerns about the nature of reality and the scope of human understanding, suggesting that dismissing the unknowns outside of scientific inquiry may be a flawed position.

Themes

SciencePhilosophyKnowledgeRealityNaturalism

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about the role of science in society, one might refer to this quote to emphasize the limitations of scientific inquiry.

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