Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA
William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse (Editors)http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0521829496/ref=pd_sim_books_4/103-8554695-5556631?v=glance&s=books
Book Description
William Dembski, Michael Ruse, and other prominent philosophers provide here a
comprehensive balanced overview of the debate concerning biological origins--a
controversial dialectic since Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859.
Invariably, the source of controversy has been "design." Is the appearance of
design in organisms (as exhibited in their functional complexity) the result of
purely natural forces acting without prevision or teleology? Or, does the
appearance of design signify genuine prevision and teleology, and, if so, is
that design empirically detectable and thus open to scientific inquiry? Four
main positions have emerged in response to these questions: *Darwinism*
*self-organization* *theistic evolution* *intelligent design*. The contributors
to this volume define their respective positions in an accessible style,
inviting readers to draw their own conclusions. Two introductory essays furnish
a historical overview of the debate. William A. Dembski is an associate research
professor in the conceptual foundations of science at Baylor University as well
as a senior fellow with Seattle's Discovery Institute. His most important books
are The Design Inference (Cambridge, 1998) and No Free Lunch (Rowman and
Littlefield, 2002). Michael Ruse is Lucyle T. Wekmeister Professor of Philosophy
at Florida State University. He is the author of many books, including Can a
Darwinian Be a Christian?: The Relationship Between Science and Religion
(Cambridge, 2000).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. General Introduction -- William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse
2. The Argument from Design: A Brief History -- Michael Ruse
3. Who's Afraid of ID? A Survey of the Intelligent Design Movement -- Angus
Menuge
PART I: DARWINISM
4. Design without Designer: Darwin's Greatest Discovery -- Francisco J. Ayala
5. The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of "Irreducible Complexity" --
Kenneth R. Miller
6. The Design Argument -- Elliott Sober
7. DNA by Design? Stephen Meyer and the Return of the God Hypothesis --
Robert T. Pennock
PART II: COMPLEX SELF-ORGANIZATION
8. Prolegomenon to a General Biology -- Stuart Kauffman
9. Darwinism, Design, and Complex Systems Dynamics -- Burce H. Weber and
David J. Depew
10.Emergent Complexity, Teleology, and the Arrow of Time -- Paul Davies
11.The Emergence of Biological Value -- James Barham
PART III: THEISTIC EVOLUTION
12.Darwin, Design, and Divine Providence -- John F. Haught
13.The Inbuilt Potentiality of Creation -- John Polkinghorne
14.Theistic Evolution -- Keith Ward
15.Intelligent Design: Some Geological, Historical, and Theological Questions -- Michael Roberts
16.The Argument from Laws of Nature Reassessed -- Richard Swinburne
PART IV: INTELLIGENT DESIGN
17.The Logical Underpinnings of Intelligent Design -- William A. Dembski
18.Information, Entropy, and the Origin of Life -- Walter L. Bradley
19.Irreducible Complexity: Obstacle to Darwinian Evolution -- Michael J. Behe
20.The Cambrian Information Explosion: Evidence for
Intelligent Design -- Stephen C. Meyer
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