"we take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its construsts,in spite of its failure to fulfil many of its extravagent promises to health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories,because we have a prior commitment ,a commitment to materialism.
it is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenominal world,but,on the contrary,that we are forced by our a-priori adherance to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations,no matter how counter-intuitive,no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated,moreover that materialism is an absolute,for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door"
biologist richard lewontin
billions and billions of demons
new york review 9/1/97