Page 54 - The Miracle of Creation in DNA

THE INFORMATION IN LIVING

STRUCTURES AND THE DEATH

OF MATERIALISM

aterialist philosophy lies at the basis of the theory of
evolution. Materialism rests on the supposition that
M everything that exists is matter. According to this
philosophy, matter has existed since eternity, will continue to exist
forever, and there is nothing but matter. In order to provide support for
their claim, materialists use a logic called "reductionism." This is the idea
that things which are not observable can also be explained by material
causes.
To make matters clearer, let us take the example of the human mind.
It is evident that the mind cannot be touched or seen. Moreover, it has no
centre in the human brain. This situation unavoidably leads us to the
conclusion that the mind is a concept beyond matter. Therefore, the being
which we refer to as "I," who thinks, loves, gets nervous, worries, takes
pleasure or feels pain, is not a material being in the same way as a sofa, a
table or a stone.
Materialists, however, claim that mind is "reducible to matter."

According to the materialist claim, thinking, loving, worrying and all our
mental activities are nothing but chemical reactions taking place between
the atoms in the brain. Loving someone is a chemical reaction in some
cells in our brain, and fear is another. The famous materialist philosopher
Karl Vogt stressed this logic with his famous words "Just as the liver
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secretes gall, so do our brains secrete thought." Gall, however, is matter,
whereas there is no evidence that thought is.
Reductionism is a logical deduction. However, a logical deduction
can be based on solid grounds or on shaky ones. For this reason, the

52 The Miracle of Creation in DNA