Introduction

At the foundation of the theory of evolution lies materialist philosophy, based on the hypothesis that nothing exists apart from matter. This theory maintains that matter has existed and will continue to exist for all time. Materialists employ a logical process known as reductionism in order to back up these claims. Reductionism is the idea that, like matter itself, invisible forces can also be explained in terms of material agents.

To clarify this, consider the example of the human mind, something that cannot be touched or seen. What is more, there is no "mind center" in the human brain, which inevitably leads to the conclusion that the mind is beyond matter. The thinking, loving, passionate rejoicing, happy or suffering entity we refer to as "me" is not a material entity in the same sense that a table or a stone is.

Materialists, however, maintain that mind can be reduced to matter. According to this claim, our thinking, loving, rejoicing and all other mental activities basically consist of chemical reactions between the atoms in our brains. Our loving someone is a chemical reaction in various cells; the way we feel fear is another such reaction. The famous materialist philosopher Karl Vogt expressed this with irrational logic: "The brain secretes thought just as the liver secretes bile."¹³² The fact is, however, that bile is matter, but no evidence suggests that thought is matter, too.

Reductionism follows a logical course, but logical progressions may not always be based on sound foundations. What happens when reductionism, the fundamental logic of materialism, is compared against scientific facts?

Nineteenth-century scientists and thinkers imagined that they could easily answer that question by saying, "Science confirms reductionism." However, 20th -century science has revealed that the information existing in nature can never be reduced to matter.

References

132. Encyclopædia Britannica, "Modern Materialism" ↩