Why Atheism Is Nonsense Pt.4 - "Our Intellect Wouldn't Be Reliable" (by Intelligent Faith 315)
Alvin Plantinga
2.01
7 May 2013
20 August 2025
Dr. Alvin Plantinga, who occupied the chair of Philosophy at Notre Dame, demonstrates yet another reason why the Intellectual Price Tag of Atheism is too high: Our intellectual faculties (thoughts, conclusion, ideas, etc...) cannot be trusted. Why? Simply put, if Evolution is responsible for the origin and development of mankind's brain, then it doesn't select development features based upon truth value, but rather based upon the survivability fitness of the organism (this is central to the idea of Natural Selection). That means, if one is consistent in their reasoning, there is no reason to trust the ideas and beliefs that are formed in my evolved brain/mind, since they have not developed in order to detect truth. This ends up being a self-defeating belief to hold, since the belief in Atheism and Naturalism, is held by my self same brain/mind - but this mechanism cannot itself be consistently trusted. If true, Evolution undermines the reliability of your intellectual faculties, including the belief of Atheism and Naturalism. It is a self-defeating idea for an Atheist to hold to.
