{"id":7634,"date":"2012-12-08T11:34:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T17:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=7634"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:48:17","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:48:17","slug":"nancey-murphy-on-the-universes-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2012\/12\/08\/nancey-murphy-on-the-universes-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Nancey Murphy on the Universe’s Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of my mentors, Nancey Murphy<\/a>, weighs in on the Templeton Foundation\u2019s new series, Does the Universe Have a Purpose?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Nancey Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed.<\/p>\n

But it is not possible to know that by looking at the natural world alone. The question of purpose is closely related to the question of whether something like the God of Western monotheistic religions can be known to exist by studying the order, goodness, and grandeur of the universe.<\/strong> Already around 1750 David Hume pointed out that if one is looking at evidence of design, then all of the evidence must be taken into account: not only order and goodness but disorder and evil as well. He seems to think that some sort of creator is possible (in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, published posthumously in 1779, it is not clear which character represents Hume\u2019s own views). But if so, we can know next to nothing about the creator\u2019s qualities: an intelligence, for all we know, as much like ours as our intelligence is like the rotting of a turnip\u2013one deity or a team; alive or dead; a juvenile or superannuated deity. Nothing can be known of any plan for the future perfection of the world or the human condition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

via John Templeton Foundation : Does the Universe Have a Purpose?<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my mentors, Nancey Murphy, weighs in on the Templeton Foundation\u2019s new series, Does the Universe Have a Purpose? Indeed. But it is not possible to know that by looking at the natural world alone. The question of purpose is closely related to the question of whether something like the God of Western monotheistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[954,565],"class_list":["post-7634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","tag-nancey-murphy","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nNancey Murphy on the Universe's Purpose<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of my mentors, Nancey Murphy, weighs in on the Templeton Foundation's new series, Does the Universe Have a Purpose? Indeed. 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