The Anchor of Reason: Beyond Naturalism and Materialism

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Astronomy, Life Sciences, Science, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.3 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Before we can ask whether the universe is designed, we should first ask if we can trust the minds we’re using to investigate it. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes to the show science teacher and writer Rebekah Valerius to discuss an essay she recently penned unpacking the argument from reason and its implications for Darwinism, materialism, and atheism. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The argument from reason, and I mentioned this in the article, formed an anchor for me during that time because it's such a fundamental argument.
0:09.6	Yeah.
0:10.2	It gets to the heart of even being able to doubt, even to be able to trust your doubts.
0:15.8	You have to assume that you can.
0:19.2	And what the argument showed me was given naturalism or atheistic naturalism,
0:25.9	I have no grounds for that trust in my reasoning ability. So it was very important to me.
0:34.0	ID, the future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:39.8	Before we can ask whether the universe is designed, we have to start by seeing if we can really
0:45.6	trust the minds we're using to investigate it, and that includes our own mind.
0:50.5	Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermid.
0:53.8	Today, I'm welcoming to the show Rebecca
0:55.9	Valerius to discuss an essay she recently wrote, unpacking the argument from reason and its
1:02.2	implications for Darwinism, materialism, and atheism. This is Rebecca's first conversation on ID
1:08.9	the Future. She has a BS in biochemistry and a master's in apologetics.
1:13.9	She teaches advanced chemistry, biology, and apologetics at a classical Christian school in the Dallas area.
1:20.9	Rebecca is also an editor and a contributing writer with Shadowlands Dispatch,
1:25.2	an online journal dedicated to Christian Apologetics.
1:29.1	Rebecca, welcome to the podcast.
1:31.0	Thank you for having me on.
1:33.0	Yeah, it's great to have you.
1:34.5	Now, let's start with your interest and experience in science.
1:38.1	I know you spent some time in the lab and you also studied science in school.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 7 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.