Hamidreza Ayatollahi; Fatemeh Ahmadi
Volume 4, Issue 8 , July 2014, , Pages 1-23
Abstract
In his explanation of the conflict of evolution and doctrine of creation, Plantinga analyzes the Theory of Evolution. He describes the Theory of Evolution as the "Grand Evolutionary Story" and considers it as consisting of several notions. He takes a stand against the Theory of Common Ancestry, which ...
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In his explanation of the conflict of evolution and doctrine of creation, Plantinga analyzes the Theory of Evolution. He describes the Theory of Evolution as the "Grand Evolutionary Story" and considers it as consisting of several notions. He takes a stand against the Theory of Common Ancestry, which is a part of the evolutionary theory. He believes that atheist interpretations of the Theory of Evolution are caused by inappropriate naturalistic conceptions of the Theory. Instead, as Plantinga holds, theistic interpretations of the Theory can be defended using some scientific and religious theories. He also takes a stance towards science, and advocates and argues for Augustinian science, which is a religious science theory. In this paper, the criticisms leveled against the stance of Plantinga by Hasker and McMullin are discussed and some of Plantinga’s responses are analyzed. Then, we will examine his views and present a critical evaluation of the criticisms. By doing so, we will show how Hasker and McMullin have not understood the core of Plantinga’s ideas. Finally, the failure of Plantinga’s theory in providing a religious interpretation of evolution will be shown.
