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But now: either scientific beliefs are true or not. If they are<br />

true, then by what coincidence are they thus, if their nonrational<br />

origin does not presuppose intelligent guidance? Nor will it<br />

help to say that objective tests may be applied to determine the<br />

correctness of a given scientific belief: for “what tests can we<br />

apply to it which have not the same origins and do not suffer<br />

therefore from the same defects?” (Footnote 11: Idem.)<br />

If, on the other hand, scientific beliefs do not embody rational<br />

truth, “the conclusion of the argument has shattered its<br />

premises; and scientific naturalism perishes through the very<br />

<strong>com</strong>pleteness with which it has destroyed any theory of origins<br />

which involves a belief in reason, purpose, or design.” (Footnote<br />

12: Idem.)<br />

It is frequently objected, Balfour notes, that natural selection<br />

provides a suitable substitute for creative design and hence a<br />

sufficient reason for accepting the truth of scientific belief<br />

without appeal to theism. (Footnote 13: Ibid., p. 24f.) But this<br />

factor is possessed of two basic defects which make it an insufficient<br />

explanation: (1)First, natural selection begins too late “to<br />

provide human reason with even the imitation of a reasonable<br />

origin.” (Footnote 14: Ibid., p. 26f.) It does not explain the environment<br />

of life, the production of life itself, or the organic<br />

<strong>com</strong>plexes within which variations take place. (Footnote 15:<br />

Idem.) (2)Second, natural selection ends too soon to ex- [[Page<br />

149]] plain the validity of our highest reflective beliefs. The<br />

supreme values of love, beauty, and knowledge have, in their<br />

highest expression, no serious consequence in the struggle for<br />

existence. (Footnote 16: Ibid., pp. 26-28.) How, for example,<br />

on the naturalistic hypothesis, could such a chance variation as<br />

beauty---which possesses no appreciable survival value---play<br />

such a large part in the higher life of the race? (Footnote 17:<br />

Ibid., p. 31.)<br />

And what of intellectual knowledge itself? If knowledge<br />

never pushed beyond the bounds within which it effectively

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