It's evolution, baby...

Such sings a song by Seattle rock band Pearl Jam: "It's evolution, baby..." Nowadays, the topic is getting a little bit trite, since this year we are celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of his most (in)famous book, The Origin of the Species; as well, world famous biologist Richard Dawkins has been campaining for evolution (and against intelligent design or creation) in the past few years.

I am a strong believer, and had always had had a hard time putting together evolution and creation, and I think that I've finally accomplished it. Here I must take a pause to thank my brother David for hours of illustrative discussion. So the necessary question is how?

As Economics Nobel laurate, Bob Aumann would say, human experience reality on several planes, each orthogonal to each other. Science is one of those planes, Religion is another. What we experience in science is basically not what we experience through religion. Each has is well delimited space. Science should not even attempt to ask itself about the ontology and axiology of things; it should not try to ask the question: "Does God exist?" It is outside its field of study. As well, Religion and Philosophy should not ask themselves for the scientific proof of things. Mixing pears and apples is not intellectualy honest. Here is where Dawkins erres, what AlvinPlantinga would call "The Dawkins Confusion".

Evolution and Creation are compatible. Evolution (despite its many flaws) is the best scientific model we have to explain the way the different species came to be. Creation is a matter of faith. So we shouldn't sit down to endless discussions of whether we evolved or came from Adam, each in its own field are good explanations.