Agents Under Fire: Materialism and the Rationality of Science [Hardcover]

Angus Menuge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0742534049 | ISBN-13: 978-0742534049

In the first study of its kind, Agents Under Fire defends a robust notion of agency and intentionality against eliminative and naturalistic alternatives, showing the interconnections between the philosophy of mind, theology, and Intelligent Design. Menuge argues that Behe's irreducible complexity is a challenge to reductionism not only in biology, but also in psychology, and shows the inability of the Darwinian psychology proposed by Dawkins, Dennett, and Steven Pinker to explain the integration, unity, direction, and reliability of rational thought.

This fascinating defense against scientific materialism is the only book-length study relating Intelligent Design to contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind. Drawing on his experience as both a philosopher and a computer scientist, Menuge deftly shows the reader that the materialist's attempts to rid science of all commitment to teleology can only result in incoherence, and presents instead his own unique argument for the legitimacy of Intelligent Design.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book moves sharply against the grain of the naturalism and the materialism that dominate contemporary philosophy. It boldly portrays the world as laced with purpose, not just human purpose but divine purpose too. All readers can attend to this adventurous portrayal with very good purpose. (Moser, Keith)

With marvelous clarity and wit, Angus Menuge lays bare the philosophical incoherence of materialism. He clears the fog to show that the universe contains not only matter and energy; it contains agents.>>>> (Behe, Michael)

Philosophical naturalism is frequently advocated as the only doctrine that a scientifically informed intellectual of our time can possibly consider. Angus Menuge has shown, however, that a wide range of powerful considerations can be brought forward against this philosophy. Menuge provides a close examination of leading naturalists such as Dawkins, Dennett, and Churchland, and draws upon a wide range of critics from C. S. Lewis to Michael Behe, to provide what is arguably the most comprehensive critique of naturalism yet to appear. A must-read for naturalists and for their opponents. (Victor Reppert)

In this wonderfully insightful book, Angus Menuge details how intelligent design is systematically dismantling materialism’s scientific and philosophical underpinnings. Though for now materialism persists as academic orthodoxy, Menuge’s withering attack against it in this book signals a coming sea of change. (William Dembski)

With marvelous clarity and wit, Angus Menuge lays bare the philosophical incoherence of materialism. He clears the fog to show that the universe contains not only matter and energy; it contains agents. (Behe, Michael)

About the Author

Angus Menuge is associate professor of philosophy and associate director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia University Wisconsin. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Warwick, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a DCA in Christian Apologetics from the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism, and Human Rights. Dr. Menuge is editor of three books, C. S. Lewis: Lightbearer in the Shadowlands (Crossway Books, 1997), Christ and Culture in Dialogue (Concordia Publishing House, 1999) and Reading God's World: The Vocation of Scientist (Concordia Publishing House, forthcoming).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742534049
• ISBN-13: 978-0742534049
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,276,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Challenging Defense Agency August 8, 2005

By John DePoe

Format:Hardcover

Angus Menuge has written an excellent book defending the concept of "agency" against the most challenging arguments raised by contemporary materialists. Menuge shows that the Christian worldview gives an account of human agency that is not available to the most sophisticated accounts materialism. For example, Menuge engages Dan Dennett, Paul Churchland, Jerry Fodor, and other key figures in contemporary philosophy of mind. The criticisms Menuge brings to light show the breaking points in leading theories of mind. I read this book as a philosophy graduate student taking a philosophy of mind seminar, and I found that Menuge's criticisms and scholarship can run with the best of them. His carefully documented work of scholarship was a valuable tool for me as a student even in graduate school.

But Menuge's book is not just a piece of critical scholarship. He also advances some constructive theories that explain crucial features of human agents. A theistic worldview provides tools for maintaining a robust theory of personal agency that are unavailable to materialists, which Menuge brings into focus with rigorous logic and clarity.

Menuge also discusses Intelligent Design theory, including a chapter rebutting the most recent criticisms against irreducible complexity. The arguments put forward in this chapter advance the ongoing debate on intelligent design considerably.

Agents Under Fire does demand a certain background in philosophy that may place it out of reach from the unaquainted layman. Nonetheless, Menuge has written a book that is both logically rigorous and philosophically apt, which the disciplined reader will be able to understand and undoubtedly will find worthy of study.... I gladly recommend this book as a fine addition to those interested in an engaging and critical study of the philosophy of mind, intentionality, and personal agency. Read more ›

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent critique of naturalism August 17, 2004

By Victor Reppert

Format:Hardcover

Philosophical naturalism is frequently advocated as the only doctrine that a scientifically informed intellectual of our time can possibly consider. Angus Menuge has shown, however, that a wide range of powerful considerations can be brought forward against this philosophy. Menuge provides a close examination of leading naturalists such as Dawkins, Dennett and Churchland, and draws upon a wide range of critics from C. S. Lewis to Michael Behe, to provide what is arguably the most comprehensive critique of naturalism yet to appear. People who are interested in the Argument from Reason should be especially interested in Menuge's disucssion. A must read for naturalists and for their opponents.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Agency Defended Through Careful, Penetrating Analysis June 16, 2006

By Seth Cooper

Format:Hardcover

Dr. Menuge has written an extremely important underappreciated book providing a crucial link between the emerging scientific theory of intelligent design and the mind. This book exists as something of a well-kept secret. But many readers interested both in the philosophy of mind and the continuing Darwin vs. design debate will find this book to be a significant intellectual achievement.

Menuge carefully and logically explains how reductionist, materialistic accounts of rationality, concepts and intentional states are intellectually incoherent and unsatisfying. He deftly explain how intelligent agency best explains reason and rationality. Menuge thereby defends the very idea of common sense. He persuasively responds to the arguments of Dennett, Dawkins, Churchland, and others.

An impressive conceptual defense of biochemist Michael Behe's design argument of irreducible complexity is provided by Menuge. From there, Menuge ably argues that the concept of irreducible complexity is evident is manifest through rational thought processes.

Many significant insights are provided along the way in Menuge's book. His analysis of the materialist "appearance of design" argument is particularly remarkable.

The writing is methodical, but it is often quite dense. There is some complicated terminology and concepts imbedded in the text, but careful attention will allow a reader to follow and benefit from reading.

Hopefully, more attention will be paid to the mind and mind-body issues related to the Darwin vs. design debate in the years to come. Menuge has made a worthy contribution to an important topic.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive study in intelligent design and philosophy of mind June 14, 2006

By Discovery Reviewer

Format:Hardcover

Agents Under Fire defends a robust notion of intelligent agency and intentionality against eliminative and naturalistic alternatives. Angus Menuge thus demonstrates the interconnection between philosophy of mind and intelligent design.

Firstly, Menuge analyzes intelligent agents to see what they do when they produce designs. For example, Menuge observes that intelligent agents "exhibit intentionality" with "reasons for action" which are "reasons for the individual to do" that action. (pg. 27)

Menuge later tackles Behe's irreducible complexity arguments by arguing that they challenge reductionism in biology. In particular Menuge tackles head-on the objection that irreducible complexity can be produced via exaptation (i.e., co-option). Menuge finds five problems that co-optational-based accounts of the origin of irreducible complexity cannot overcome:

"For a working flagellum to be built by exaptation, the five following conditions would all have to be met:
"C1: Availability. Among the parts available for recruitment to form the flagellum, there would need to be ones capable of performing the highly specialized tasks of paddle, rotor, and motor, even though all of these items serve some other function or no function.
"C2: Synchronization. The availability of these parts would have to be synchronized so that at some point, either individually or in combination, they are all available at the same time.
"C3: Localization. The selected parts must all be made available at the same `construction site,' perhaps not simultaneously but certainly at the time they are needed.
"C4: Coordination.... The parts must be coordinated in just the right way: even if all of the parts of a flagellum are available at the right time, it is clear that the majority of ways of assembling them will be non-functional or irrelevant.
"C5: Interface compatibility. The parts must be mutually compatible, that is, `well-matched' and capable of properly `interacting': even if a paddle, rotor, and motor are put together in the right order, they also need to interface correctly." (pg. 104-105)

Menuge also forays into Darwinian explanations for the origin of mind. According to Menuge, the Darwinian psychology produced by Dawkins, Dennett, and Pinker is unable to explain the integration, unity, direction, and reliability of rational thought. For example, "if it is assumed that the human brain evolved gradually from an ape's brain, then the vastly superior psychological ability of the former would require a long and gradual series of changes resulting in a much more complex brain." (pg. 135) But since "at the anatomical level, human brains are very much like ape brains" Menuge argues that "`relatively small alterations of brain structure must have produced very large behavioral discontinuities in the transition from the ancestral apes to us.'" (pg. 135, quoting Fodor) Menuge further concludes that "[i]f that is the case, cognitive capacities are not Darwinian adaptations that developed gradually" but are either "remarkable flukes of nature, by-products of changes that were selected for other reasons" or, as Menuge believes, they "require some nonnatural explanation." (pg. 135)

Drawing on his experience as both a philosopher and computer scientist, Menuge shows the reader that the materialist's attempts to rid science of all commitment to teleology can only result in incoherence. Instead Menuge presents his own unique argument for the legitimacy of intelligent design. Read more ›