Review of the 36 Arguments for the Existence of God # 28. THE ARGUMENT FROM PRODIGIOUS GENIUS
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Pastor Jennifer v2
Feb 23, 2012, 8:59:35 PM2/23/12
to Evidence For God
28. THE ARGUMENT FROM PRODIGIOUS GENIUS
(by R Goldstein)
1. Genius is the highest level of creative capacity, the level that,
by definition, defies explanation.
2. Genius does not happen by way of natural psychological processes
(from 1).
3. The cause of genius must lie outside of natural psychological
processes (from 2).
4. The insights of genius have helped in the cumulative progress of
humankind—scientific, technological, philosophical, moral, artistic,
societal, political, spiritual.
5. The cause of genius must both lie outside of natural psychological
processes and be such as to care about the progress of humankind (from
3 and 4).
6. Only God could work outside of natural psychological processes and
create geniuses to light the path of humankind.
7. God exists.
FLAW 1:
The psychological traits that go into human accomplishment, such as
intelligence and perseverance, are heritable. By the laws of
probability, rare individuals will inherit a concentrated dose of
those genes. Given a nurturing cultural context, these individuals
will, some of the time, exercise their powers to accomplish great
feats. Those are the individuals we call geniuses. We may not know
enough about genetics, neuroscience, and cognition to explain exactly
what makes for a Mozart or an Einstein, but exploiting this gap to
argue for supernatural provenance is an example of the Fallacy of
Arguing from Ignorance.
FLAW 2:
Human genius is not consistently applied to human betterment. Consider
weapons of mass destruction, computer viruses, Hitler’s brilliantly
effective rhetoric, or those criminal geniuses (for example,
electronic thieves) who are so cunning that they elude detection.
(by R Goldstein)
1. Genius is the highest level of creative capacity, the level that,
by definition, defies explanation.
2. Genius does not happen by way of natural psychological processes
(from 1).
3. The cause of genius must lie outside of natural psychological
processes (from 2).
4. The insights of genius have helped in the cumulative progress of
humankind—scientific, technological, philosophical, moral, artistic,
societal, political, spiritual.
5. The cause of genius must both lie outside of natural psychological
processes and be such as to care about the progress of humankind (from
3 and 4).
6. Only God could work outside of natural psychological processes and
create geniuses to light the path of humankind.
7. God exists.
FLAW 1:
The psychological traits that go into human accomplishment, such as
intelligence and perseverance, are heritable. By the laws of
probability, rare individuals will inherit a concentrated dose of
those genes. Given a nurturing cultural context, these individuals
will, some of the time, exercise their powers to accomplish great
feats. Those are the individuals we call geniuses. We may not know
enough about genetics, neuroscience, and cognition to explain exactly
what makes for a Mozart or an Einstein, but exploiting this gap to
argue for supernatural provenance is an example of the Fallacy of
Arguing from Ignorance.
FLAW 2:
Human genius is not consistently applied to human betterment. Consider
weapons of mass destruction, computer viruses, Hitler’s brilliantly
effective rhetoric, or those criminal geniuses (for example,
electronic thieves) who are so cunning that they elude detection.
Brock
Feb 25, 2012, 11:11:20 AM2/25/12
to Evidence For God
On Feb 23, 8:59 pm, Pastor Jennifer v2
<jennifer.s.jo...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> 28. THE ARGUMENT FROM PRODIGIOUS GENIUS
> (by R Goldstein)
> 1. Genius is the highest level of creative capacity, the level that,
> by definition, defies explanation.
> 2. Genius does not happen by way of natural psychological processes
> (from 1).
> 3. The cause of genius must lie outside of natural psychological
> processes (from 2).
> 4. The insights of genius have helped in the cumulative progress of
> humankind—scientific, technological, philosophical, moral, artistic,
> societal, political, spiritual.
> 5. The cause of genius must both lie outside of natural psychological
> processes and be such as to care about the progress of humankind (from
> 3 and 4).
> 6. Only God could work outside of natural psychological processes and
> create geniuses to light the path of humankind.
> 7. God exists.
Again, the same limitations apply to this treatment:
> 28. THE ARGUMENT FROM PRODIGIOUS GENIUS
> (by R Goldstein)
> 1. Genius is the highest level of creative capacity, the level that,
> by definition, defies explanation.
> 2. Genius does not happen by way of natural psychological processes
> (from 1).
> 3. The cause of genius must lie outside of natural psychological
> processes (from 2).
> 4. The insights of genius have helped in the cumulative progress of
> humankind—scientific, technological, philosophical, moral, artistic,
> societal, political, spiritual.
> 5. The cause of genius must both lie outside of natural psychological
> processes and be such as to care about the progress of humankind (from
> 3 and 4).
> 6. Only God could work outside of natural psychological processes and
> create geniuses to light the path of humankind.
> 7. God exists.
* there is no one "THE ARGUMENT ...", rather it refers to a general
category of arguments, thus to defeat one specific example is not
adequate to dismiss the category
* the argument, to the degree it is a paraphrase, doesn't adequately
represent (either intentionally or accidentally) the argument as put
forward by a proponent, and faces the danger of being simply a straw-
man
Regards,
Brock
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