Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary
Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary
Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary
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is called, remarkably enough, the naturalist<br />
school. This turn or return to naturalism is<br />
now dominant among philosophers of science<br />
(Kitcher, 1992; Callebaut, 1993). These<br />
philosophers believe that matters of fact are as<br />
relevant to philosophical theory as they are to<br />
science (a positivist stance), but they also<br />
claim that the history of scientific discovery<br />
and theory formation is vital to understanding<br />
and explaining the workings of science (an<br />
historicist stance). I think the naturalist school<br />
is a very positive development in the history of<br />
philosophy of science, although I point out that<br />
they come to no agreements concerning the<br />
objectivity and credibility of science. Their<br />
work is still in progress .... The surest sign that<br />
postmodernism is wrong is that postmodern<br />
critiques of science have had absolutely no<br />
effect on the practice of science or the<br />
continuing achievements of science. If there<br />
had been any truth at all to postmodernism,<br />
scientists would have changed their scientific<br />
methods and procedures to try to escape the<br />
postmodern pitfalls of relativism,<br />
subjectivism, and externalism. The fact that<br />
few scientists know or care about<br />
postmodernism, and none have been<br />
influenced by it, speaks volumes<br />
(Schafersman, 1997).<br />
Does postmodernism make any positive contributions Prof. D.A. Carson believes<br />
there is “a large measure of truth in postmodernity” (Carson, 1996:91), because it does<br />
criticize the godless assumptions of modernity. Postmodernity does help to swing the<br />
pendulum the other direction from extreme rationalism and the “unnecessary dogmatisms<br />
and legalism of a previous generation” (ibid. 91). Carson argues we have been<br />
‘canonizing’ our own assumptions far too long. In this, postmodernism “is proving rather<br />
successful at undermining the extraordinary hubris of modernism” and concludes, “no<br />
thoughtful Christian can be sad about that” (ibid. 10). Carson adds, “not all of God’s<br />
truth is vouchsafed to one particular interpretive community” (ibid. 552).<br />
World-class philosopher, William Lane Craig, said the biggest problem with<br />
postmodernism is not that it is unliveable, “but rather that it is so obviously self-<br />
84<br />
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, <strong>South</strong> Africa