Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of The Grand Design is that the attempts made to support Hawking’s and Mlodinow’s case are, in many cases, simply unsophisticated, unsupportable, naive, and even fallacious. I believe that in a college class on logic, philosophy, or religion, this book would receive a failing grade. For example, the question is posed, “Are there any exceptions to the laws of physics?” or “Are miracles possible.” The answer given is, “…the modern scientists answer to question two [exceptions to the laws of physics]…is…a scientific law is not a scientific law if it holds only when some supernatural being decides not to intervene.” This is a clear example of the logical fallacy of “begging the question.” Hawking is dismissing miracles outright because they don’t fit his preconceived definition of what science is. If this were your answer to the question of miracles in a logic class I guarantee you would get an F.
Consider also the quote from the book mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or someone as smart as Stephen Hawking, to realize how ridiculous this statement is. Gravity works within the space-time dimensions of our universe so it is impossible to invoke gravity as the cause of our universe.
August 20, 2017 More.
Logic isn’t as big a deal in science as it used to be. Evolutionary psychology can explain it now.
See also: How naturalism rots science from the head down