{"id":264,"date":"2011-01-02T23:58:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index\/"},"modified":"2012-09-10T11:04:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T15:04:56","slug":"identifying-purposefulness-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html","title":{"rendered":"Identifying Purposefulness [Index]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

During the series addressing Michael Egnor\u2019s Eight Questions for Atheists<\/a>, I spent a post discussing why there was regularity in nature<\/a>, and whether that regularity had any implications about a possible design for the world or the existence of a Designer.<\/p>\n

Three commenters got into a lengthy argument\/discussion in the comments section, and, this week, I\u2019ve invited each of them to write a guest post explaining their take on the issue. \u00a0The discussion in the comments section was free ranging and discursive, so, for the sake of clarity, Lukas laid out his chain of reasoning:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Assuming careful investigation, we are able to discern purposefulness, and from that to infer a purposeful agent.<\/li>\n
  2. Careful investigation has demonstrated that the universe appears to have been created purposefully.<\/li>\n
  3. Therefore the universe was created by a purposeful agent.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The three commenters are focusing on proposition one: explaining whether it is even hypothetically possible to discern purposefulness in the universe and what kind of evidence would suffice. \u00a0Thus, they are addressing the standards of evidence that could be applied to proposition two, not\u00a0evaluating\u00a0that evidence.<\/p>\n

    Posts from each of them will go up at 10:15am Mon-Wed this week, and I\u2019ll post a reflection on all three on Thursday. \u00a0So, starting tomorrow, the\u00a0schedule\u00a0will run:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Lukas<\/a> \u2013 \u201cEstablishing a Criterion of Purposefulness<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n
    2. March Hare<\/a> \u2013 \u201cYou Think You\u2019re So Special?\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n
    3. Eli<\/a> \u2013 \u201cGod is an Epileptic Tree<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n
    4. Me \u2013 \u201cThe Purpose Paradox\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Remember, if you want to respond in detail to something I\u2019ve written, or you\u2019d like to debate a fellow commenter in a longer form, email me at leah(DOT)libresco(AT)gmail(DOT)com to talk about the possibility of writing a guest blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u00a0 During the series addressing Michael Egnor\u2019s Eight Questions for Atheists, I spent a post discussing why there was regularity in nature, and whether that regularity had any implications about a possible design for the world or the existence of a Designer. Three commenters got into a lengthy argument\/discussion in the comments section, and, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,16],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-debates","category-sequence-index","tag-guest-post"],"yoast_head":"\nIdentifying Purposefulness [Index]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  During the series addressing Michael Egnor's Eight Questions for Atheists, I spent a post discussing why there was regularity in nature, and\" \/>\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\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Identifying Purposefulness [Index]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  During the series addressing Michael Egnor's Eight Questions for Atheists, I spent a post discussing why there was regularity in nature, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-02T23:58:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-10T15:04:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_b7Eh98KJ_qI\/TSFbUqk0HWI\/AAAAAAAABMw\/aM0Z3Ia-WJs\/s320\/Watchmaker2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html\",\"name\":\"Identifying Purposefulness [Index]\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-02T23:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-10T15:04:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"  During the series addressing Michael Egnor's Eight Questions for Atheists, I spent a post discussing why there was regularity in nature, and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/identifying-purposefulness-index.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Identifying Purposefulness [Index]\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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