{"id":429,"date":"2009-03-22T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-22T21:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/the-unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html"},"modified":"2014-11-13T18:37:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T17:37:59","slug":"unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html","title":{"rendered":"The unfeasable common sense of creationism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a couple of nice items on teleology \u2013 and why we fall for it so often.<\/p>\n

Jesse Bering, writing<\/a> in Scientific American, describes some of the research showing that we just can\u2019t help thinking teleologically. In other words, we default to believing that things have a purpose for existing, and that the purpose they have is usually to be useful to something (or someone).<\/p>\n

Why do we do this? Well because we\u2019re driven to it by evolution:<\/p>\n

Gopnik argues that human beings have evolved an \u201cinnate explanatory drive\u201d that motivates us to seek explanations similar to the way we\u2019re motivated to achieve sexual climax. That is to say, for the sheer thrill and phenomenological bliss of it. Just as those few seconds in bed or on top of the washing machine feel naturally grand and put a smile on your face, so too does lighting upon that fleeting eureka moment in solving a mind-tickling problem leave you glowing. (OK, so maybe doing crosswords or Sudoku isn\u2019t going to have you exactly biting your bottom lip and moaning in ecstasy, but you get the gist of Gopnik\u2019s analogy.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This explains why people just can\u2019t help thinking in creationist terms. It also explains why people get so fixated on needing a \u2018purpose\u2019 for the universe\u2019s existence. We\u2019re just not wired up to accept what appears to be the real answer: it just exists.<\/p>\n

In a nice synchronicity, Dan Dennett is talking over at TED on the \u2018strange inversion of reasoning\u2019 demanded by Darwinism. And yes, he manages to get a lot of sex references in too!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/video.ted.com\/assets\/player\/swf\/EmbedPlayer.swf<\/p>\n

Now, I have to say that my gut feeling is that part of the reason we talk teleologically is simply that it\u2019s much easier to do. I\u2019ve noticed this when talking to my kids (6 & 4 years old).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sun shines on us to make us warm.<\/span>\u201d Well, no actually the sun shines on us as a result of nuclear reactions, and we exist as a result. The second statement is true, but frankly in ordinary conversation I\u2019m more likely to say the former. So the question is, is this simply an artefact of the way our language is constructed (rather than a psychological predisposition on my part?).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a couple of nice items on teleology \u2013 and why we fall for it so often. Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research showing that we just can\u2019t help thinking teleologically. In other words, we default to believing that things have a purpose for existing, and that the purpose they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe unfeasable common sense of creationism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The unfeasable common sense of creationism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-22T21:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-13T17:37:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html\",\"name\":\"The unfeasable common sense of creationism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-22T21:40:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-13T17:37:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\"},\"description\":\"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The unfeasable common sense of creationism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"description\":\"The science of religion and non-belief\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Epiphenom\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The unfeasable common sense of creationism","description":"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The unfeasable common sense of creationism","og_description":"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html","og_site_name":"Epiphenom","article_published_time":"2009-03-22T21:40:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-13T17:37:59+00:00","author":"Epiphenom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Epiphenom","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html","name":"The unfeasable common sense of creationism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-03-22T21:40:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-13T17:37:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1"},"description":"Here's a couple of nice items on teleology - and why we fall for it so often.Jesse Bering, writing in Scientific American, describes some of the research","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/03\/unfeasable-common-sense-of-creationism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The unfeasable common sense of creationism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/","name":"Epiphenom","description":"The science of religion and non-belief","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1","name":"Epiphenom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Epiphenom"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}