[MD] Dawkins a Materialist

[Case]

[Platt]
It is precisely the claim of science that it has a monopoly on truth which
makes me suspect it as a fundamentalist religion. There's even a name for
its church -- scientism. Its doctrine consists of at least a dozen
theoretical assumptions including rationalism, determinism, reductionism,
etc. While it has demonstrated value in explaining exterior aspects of the
physical world, it loses power in the poetic and spiritual realms where the
most profound experiences of life are found.     

[Case]
It is possible for us to agree if even only slightly on occasion. I too am
concerned with the disconnect between science and aesthetics. But I don't
see science as hostile to aesthetics either. Personally much of my
appreciation of science is on aesthetic grounds. 

I guess where we really part company is with the idea that science's
assumptions amount to doctrine. Nothing is science it sacred in the sense of
being immune to challenge. What you often see as some kind of political bias
in academics and science is really nothing more than the failure of various
views to effectively mount a challenge to current consensus.