EVENTS

STOQ 2009 – THE STOQ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
«BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION. Facts and Theories»

Abstracts of the Lectures:

Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Evolution and Naturalism

Discussions of the relationship of the theory of evolution to the question of whether God exists often distinguish metaphysical naturalism from methodological naturalism. The former holds that the only things that exist are things inside of nature; the latter holds that scientific theories should postulate only things that exist inside of nature. The idea that evolutionary theory is committed only to methodological naturalism means that evolutionary theory is silent on the question of whether supernatural entities exist. In my lecture, I will discuss both sorts of naturalism, focusing on (i) how evolutionists understand the idea that mutations are "unguided", and (ii) the use of mathematics in evolutionary theory.