The editor of the Indian Journal AntiMatters is a German physicist, Ulrich Mohrhoff, a long-time resident of India who has published numerous scientific papers on quantum mechanics. Since he had published an article based on chapter 5 of my new Discovery Institute Press book In the Beginning… in AntiMatters (and also my “Epilogue”), we asked him if he would write an endorsement for the new book. He declined, saying while he appreciated my critiques of Darwinism, “it is preposterous to assert that ID is the alternative to materialism.” (I believe this was specifically referring to the introduction to my chapter 6, where I claim that the strongest argument for ID is to clearly state the alternative view, [materialism].)
I quoted Dr. Mohrhoff in my comment to Denise’s May 15 post, and added that I did not understand what this third alternative was, so rather than speculate further, I asked him to elaborate, and promised to post his reply on UD. Here is his response:
I must admit that if I said “it is preposterous to assert that ID is the alternative to materialism,” it was probably said without sufficient context. (I take it that it was said in regard to explaining how evolution works, for otherwise idealism would be the obvious alternative to materialism.)
My philosophical background is close to the original Vedanta of the Upanishads, and more specifically to its detailed and deeply experience-backed exposition and further development by Sri Aurobindo. The attempt to present it in a nutshell is likely to produce a caricature, but I’ll try nonetheless to spell out some of its fundamental tenets. (For a more detailed exposition, see my article Beyond Natural Selection and Intelligent Design: Sri Aurobindo s Theory of Evolution in AntiMatters vol 2 no 2.)