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Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose?

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The intricate forms of living things bespeak design, and thus a creator: nearly 150 years after Darwin's theory of natural selection called this argument into question, we still speak of life in terms of design--the function of the eye, the purpose of the webbed foot, the design of the fins. Why is the "argument from design" so tenacious, and does Darwinism--itself still evolving after all these years--necessarily undo it?

The definitive work on these contentious questions, Darwin and Design surveys the argument from design from its introduction by the Greeks, through the coming of Darwinism, down to the present day. In clear, non-technical language Michael Ruse, a well-known authority on the history and philosophy of Darwinism, offers a full and fair assessment of the status of the argument from design in light of both the advances of modern evolutionary biology and the thinking of today's philosophers--with special attention given to the supporters and critics of "intelligent design."

The first comprehensive history and exposition of Western thought about design in the natural world, this important work suggests directions for our thinking as we move into the twenty-first century. A thoroughgoing guide to a perennially controversial issue, the book makes its own substantial contribution to the ongoing debate about the relationship between science and religion, and between evolution and its religious critics.

ISBN-13: 9780674016316

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Publication Date: 09-30-2004

Pages: 384

Product Dimensions: 5.84(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.99(d)

Michael Ruse is the former Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Guelph. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Gifford Lecturer, and the author or editor of more than sixty books.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Two Thousand Years of Design

2. Paley and Kant Fight Back

3. Sowing the Seeds of Evolution

4. A Plurality of Problems

5. Charles Darwin

6. A Subject Too Profound

7. Darwinian against Darwinian

8. The Century of Evolutionism

9. Adaptation in Action

10. Theory and Test

11. Formalism Redux

12. From Function to Design

13. Design as Metaphor

14. Natural Theology Evolves

15. Turning Back the Clock

Sources and Suggested Reading

Illustration Credits

Acknowledgments

Index