Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA

Contents......Page 3
1 General Introduction......Page 17
From the greeks to christianity......Page 27
After the reformation......Page 30
Charles darwin......Page 34
From darwin to dawkins......Page 37
Conclusion......Page 43
References......Page 44
A survey of the intelligent design movement......Page 46
1.1. Stealth Creationism?......Page 47
1.2. Life before Johnson......Page 50
1.3. Johnson and After......Page 54
2.1. Acceptance by the Educational Mainstream......Page 57
2.2. Theoretical Refinements......Page 60
2.3. Good and Evil......Page 61
3. Conclusion......Page 62
References......Page 63
Part I DARWINISM......Page 67
Synopsis......Page 69
Darwin’s revolution......Page 70
Darwin’s discovery: design without designer......Page 72
Natural selection as a nonchance process......Page 73
Chance and necessity......Page 76
Teleology and teleological explanations......Page 79
Unintelligent design......Page 82
Science as a way of knowing: power and limits......Page 85
Notes......Page 87
5 The Flagellum Unspun......Page 95
The argument’s origins......Page 97
Answering the argument......Page 98
The type iii secretory apparatus......Page 99
Counterattack......Page 101
The combinatorial argument......Page 102
Assuming impossibility......Page 104
Designing the cycle......Page 105
The failure of design......Page 107
The flagellum unspun......Page 108
References......Page 110
6 The Design Argument......Page 112
What is the design argument?......Page 113
Clarifications......Page 114
Other formulations of the design argument, and their defects......Page 118
Three possible objections to the likelihood argument......Page 121
The relationship of the organismic design argument to darwinism......Page 127
Anthropic reasoning and cosmic design arguments......Page 128
A prediction......Page 136
Notes......Page 137
References......Page 141
7 DNA by Design?......Page 144
Notes......Page 159
References......Page 161
Part II COMPLEX SELF-ORGANIZATION......Page 163
8 Prolegomenon to a General Biology......Page 165
Footprints of destiny: the birth of astrobiology......Page 172
Molecular diversity......Page 174
Life as an emergent collective behavior of complex chemical networks......Page 179
The strange thing about the theory of evolution......Page 180
Laws for a biosphere......Page 184
Note......Page 186
1. The argument from incredulity......Page 187
2. The argument against incredulity......Page 189
3. Self-organization and emergence in complex natural systems......Page 193
4. Natural theology redux......Page 199
References......Page 200
1. The dying universe......Page 205
2. Reaction to the bleak message of the second law of thermodynamics......Page 207
3. The true nature of cosmic evolution......Page 209
4. The cosmological origin of time’s arrow......Page 212
5. The ultimate fate of the universe......Page 215
6. A law of increasing complexity?......Page 216
Conclusion......Page 221
Notes......Page 222
1. Introduction......Page 224
2. The mechanist’s dilemma......Page 225
3. Normativity and natural selection......Page 229
4. Material emergence and the ground of normativity in nature......Page 232
5. Conclusion......Page 235
Acknowledgments......Page 236
References......Page 237
Part III THEISTIC EVOLUTION......Page 241
12 Darwin, Design, and Divine Providence......Page 243
I. Is darwinism inherently materialistic?......Page 246
A. Theological Response I......Page 249
B. Theological Response II......Page 253
Notes......Page 258
References......Page 259
Anthropic fine-tuning......Page 260
Providential interaction......Page 269
References......Page 273
14 Theistic Evolution......Page 275
15 Intelligent Design......Page 289
The implications of geological time and the fossil succession for intelligent design......Page 290
The Problem of Geological Time......Page 291
The Young Darwin on a Nonevolutionary Succession of Life......Page 292
The Playing Down of Geological Time in Intelligent Design......Page 293
John Ray and Edward Lhwyd......Page 294
Early Nineteenth-Century Geologists......Page 295
Darwin on “the Ordinary View of Creation”......Page 297
“Theism” and “Naturalism” from the Mid Nineteenth Century......Page 298
A restatement of fact: rhetoric rather than argument in design......Page 299
Darwin on the Rhetoric in Design and Creation......Page 300
Historical Understandings of Genesis, Creation, and Design......Page 301
Split-level Creation in Intelligent Design......Page 302
Conclusion......Page 304
Notes......Page 305
16 The Argument from Laws of Nature Reassessed......Page 308
Notes......Page 321
Part IV INTELLIGENT DESIGN......Page 323
1. Randomness......Page 325
2. The design inference......Page 327
3. Specified complexity......Page 329
4. Reliability of the criterion......Page 333
5. Assertibility......Page 335
6. Application to evolutionary biology......Page 337
7. Eliminative induction......Page 342
References......Page 344
1. Introduction......Page 345
2. Quantifying the information in biopolymers......Page 346
3. The second law of thermodynamics and the origin of life......Page 352
4. Critique of various origin-of-life scenarios......Page 359
5. Summary......Page 363
References......Page 364
A sketch of the intelligent design hypothesis......Page 366
Misconceptions about what a hypothesis of design entails......Page 369
Misconceptions concerning supposed ways around the irreducibility of biochemical systems......Page 372
The blood clotting cascade......Page 374
The mousetrap......Page 378
Future prospects of the intelligent design hypothesis......Page 381
Notes......Page 382
References......Page 383
Introduction......Page 385
Thesis......Page 386
The cambrian explosion......Page 387
Novel genes and proteins......Page 389
The cambrian information explosion......Page 388
Novel body plans......Page 395
Self-organizational models......Page 397
Design without a designer?......Page 399
References......Page 403
Index......Page 407