[The naturalist] starts out thinking and then utters a worldview which makes all thinking suspect. His worldview says everything—including mind—is physical, natural, material. Yet he must use this physical mind to affirm, and prove, his metaphysic.
—A. J. Hoover, The Case for Christian Theism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 92-93.
Hello Ken.
First of all I am glad you created this blog.
I am a progressive Christian and disagree with many of your conservative beliefs but I do appreciate the respectful and friendly tone you always use while dealing with opposed views.
I don’t think this is a good argument against materialists, since most of them don’t DENY the existence of intentionality and meaning but REDUCE them to brain processes.
However I think one can develop an interesting argument showing that materialism is probably self-refuting:
https://lotharlorraine.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/on-the-self-consistency-of-reductive-materialism-uber-die-selbstkonsistenz-des-reduktiven-materialismus/
Due to your very tight shedule, I consider it highly unlikely to receive an answer from you on that :=)
Lovely greetings from France.
Lotharson:
Greetings from America.
Thanks for your comments.
The short quote above doesn’t reflect all of A. J. Hoover’s argument. He goes on to develop what many today would call the “argument from reason” (with possible roots in Plato, Kant, C.S. Lewis, and today Plantinga and Reppert).
Hoover and many others are offering the observation that naturalism as a worldview has great difficulty grounding and justifying reason.
Thanks for providing the link to your site. When I have some free time I will read your article about materialism.
Best regards.