Sunday, August 31, 2014
The danger of picking exclusively faith-based and/or scientific explanations of behavior
To exclusively use faith-based or scientific explanations to explain
behavior would leave us with an incomplete view of humanity. A strict
scientific explanation might be exemplified by genetic determinism. Just
because our mother or father was an alcoholic, and we have an alcohol
abuse problem, using a genetically determined explanation would indicate
that we could never be freed from the hold of alcohol on our life.
However, the opposite extreme is just as unsatisfying when a thorough
explanation is required. From a faith-based perspective, one might infer
the "devil made me do it" when dealing with destructive behaviors. The
problem with this type of exclusivity is that it makes no room for a
possible physical cause for the abhorrent behavior. Naturalistic
explanations alone are woefully inadequate as well. Naturalism would
have us to believe that we are "born this way." However, a simple bump
on the head could be the catalyst for a depressive mood disorder due to
brain damage.
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