Presuppositions

I wanted to take the first step today in talking about Evolution and Creationism. That step is presuppositions.

Definitions of presupposition on the Web:

a generally implicit assumption (though it can be made explicit) underlying a claim or a process of inference.
www.filosofia.net/materiales/rec/glosaen.htm

Simply, "an assumption."
www.apologetics.org/glossary.html

The logically necessary condition of some state of affairs which must be satisfied if the state of affairs is to obtain. That is, those ideas which are held to be self-evident: assumptions. See Axiom.
www.theology.edu/theology/glossary.htm

the act of presupposing; a supposition made prior to having knowledge (as for the purpose of argument)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

In pragmatics, a presupposition is an assumption about the world whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include:*Do you want to do it again?**Presupposition: You have done it already, at least once.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presupposition

Presuppositions, basically, are assumptions made based on something else held by the assumer to be true. If you believe that all ice cream is good then you are more inclined to believe that you will enjoy sour banana crunch ice cream even though you have never tried it.

The same goes with evolution and creationism. Evolutionist usually believe that there is no God and that the universe is all that there is and ever will be. Otherwise, they could believe in God but also believe that the evidence for evolution is far to overwhelming to not believe in that too. With that belief in place they then proceed to interpret the world around them based on that belief. If they look at a fossil and see that it doesn't fit in with the normal life around them their immediate thought is to find a way to fit it in. They will interpret the evidence they find on the fossil based on what presupposition they already have about life in general.

Skipping all the steps on how evolutionary theory came to be we can rightfully say that the average human who believes in evolution does so because A. the reasons stated above and B. someone else who believes the same thing has shown them evidence that supports that belief.

Creationists have presuppositions too. They believe that there is a God and that his Word is true. They see a fossil and see that it doesn't fit into their normal life and proceed to try to find how it fits. They will then interpret the evidence based on what they already believe about life in general.

Mortenson: Let’s be very careful and clear here. People have collectively seen billions of fossils in the rocks of the earth. It is fossils people see. The fossils themselves don’t suggest when they were formed. The idea that the animals and plants from which these fossils were made “died by the truck loads before Adam and Eve were even created” is an interpretation of the fossil record based on anti-biblical presuppositions or assumptions coming from the atheistic and deistic worldviews, as geology developed as a science in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. We must keep clearly in mind the difference between the observation of fossils and rocks and the interpretations of those observations based on assumptions. Observations, interpretations and assumptions are not the same thing and are not all facts. This very important point is addressed here and here.

This is the hurdle we must jump if we are to get to the truth. We must put aside our presuppossitions and look at the facts. If you are a Christian you will want to decide if those facts line up with what the Word says. If you are an evolutionist you will probably try to prove that it doesn't line up with what the Word says. Both sides need to keep an open mind but rightfully know when to close their minds after truth is reached.

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The Great Debate