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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