God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science

394 Pages·2003·2.44 MB·English

by  Neil A. Manson

GOD AND DESIGN
Is there reason to think a supernatural designer made our world?
Recent discoveries in physics, cosmology, and biochemistry have captured the
public imagination and made the design argument—the theory that God created
the world according to a specific plan—the object of renewed scientific and
philosophical interest. Terms such as “cosmic fine-tuning,” the “anthropic
principle,” and “irreducible complexity” have seeped into public consciousness,
increasingly appearing within discussion about the existence and nature of God.
This accessible and serious introduction to the design problem brings together both
sympathetic and critical new perspectives from prominent scientists and
philosophers including Paul Davies, Richard Swinburne, Sir Martin Rees,
Michael Behe, Elliott Sober, and Peter van Inwagen.
Questions raised include:
• What is the logical structure of the design argument?
• How can intelligent design be detected in the Universe?
• What evidence is there for the claim that the Universe is divinely fine-tuned
for life?
• Does the possible existence of other universes refute the design argument?
• Is evolutionary theory compatible with the belief that God designed the
world?
God and Design probes the relationship between modern science and religious
belief, considering their points of conflict and their many points of similarity. Is
God the “master clockmaker” who sets the world’s mechanism on a perfectly
enduring course, or a miraculous presence continually intervening in and altering
the world we know? Are science and faith, or evolution and creation, really in
conflict at all? Expanding the parameters of a lively and urgent contemporary
debate, God and Design considers the ways in which perennial questions of
origin continue to fascinate and disturb us.
Neil A.Manson is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond, and a former Gifford Research Fellow
in Natural Theology at the University of Aberdeen. He has a long standing
interest in the science and religion debate.
GOD AND DESIGN
The teleological argument and modern
science
Neil A.Manson
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2003
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection
of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2003 Neil A.Manson for selection and editorial material; individual
contributors for their contributions
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-39826-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-39960-9 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-26343-3 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-26344-1 (pbk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations x
Notes on contributors xi
Preface xiv
Introduction 1
NEIL A.MANSON
Classifying the design argument 1
The resurgence of the design argument in the late twentieth 2
century
The logic of the design argument 5
Specifying for what the Universe is designed 11
What should we expect from a supernatural designer? 14
The much-maligned multiverse 17
PART I General considerations 24
1 The design argument 25
ELLIOTT SOBER
What is the design argument? 26
Clarifications 27
Other formulations of the design argument, and their defects 31
Three objections to the likelihood argument 34
The relationship of the organismic design argument to 40
Darwinism
Anthropic reasoning and cosmic design arguments 41
A prediction 47
2 The meaning of design 54
JOHN LESLIE
v
The miraculous and the natural 56
The place of evil in a designed universe 60
Explaining God: the Platonic approach 62
3 The design inference: old wine in new wineskins 65
ROBERT O’CONNOR
Introduction 65
The distinctive strengths of LDA 67
Empirical evidence for design 68
The philosophic assumptions of intelligent design 76
Conclusion 82
4 God by design? 88
JAN NARVESON
“Natural” theology and the design argument 88
The cosmological argument 89
Arguments from design: telling creation from non-creation 90
Clarifying “design” 92
The argument from design: mechanisms 93
Design and cosmic purpose 94
Three examples 97
The goodness of God and the badness of theological 1 00
explanations
A note on religion as a social phenomenon 1 03
5 The argument to God from fine-tuning reassessed 1 06
RICHARD SWINBURNE
Why a world with human bodies is likely if God exists 1 08
Why a world with human bodies is unlikely if there is no God1 16
6 Perceiving design 1 25
DEL RATZSCH
Background: Reid 1 26
Reid and design 1 28
vi
Assessment 1 32
Implications 1 37
Some prospects 1 38
PART II Physical cosmology 1 46
7 The appearance of design in physics and cosmology 1 47
PAUL DAVIES
8 Design and the anthropic fine-tuning of the Universe 1 55
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
Introduction 1 55
Examples of wider teleology 1 55
The inference to design 1 61
The design argument examined 1 65
Conclusion 1 75
9 Evidence for fine-tuning 1 78
ROBIN COLLINS
Introduction 1 78
Definition of and criteria for fine-tuning 1 79
Six solid cases of fine-tuning 1 80
Conclusion 1 90
Appendix: seriously problematic claims in the literature 1 91
10 Probabilities and the fine-tuning argument: a skeptical 2 00
view
TIMOTHY MCGREW, LYDIA MCGREW, AND ERIC
VESTRUP
The structure of the argument 2 01
The normalizability problem 2 03
Rescues and replies 2 04
PART III Multiple universes 2 09
11 Other universes: a scientific perspective 2 10
MARTIN REES
Many “universes”? 2 10
vii
A special recipe? 2 11
Three interpretations of the apparent “tuning” 2 11
Are questions about other universes part of science? 2 13
Scenarios for a multiverse 2 15
Universal laws, or mere bylaws? 2 17
Testing multiverse theories here and now 2 18
12 Too many universes 2 21
D.H.MELLOR
Universes and the multiverse 2 21
Existence, location, and ultimate explanations 2 22
Explanations and probabilities 2 23
A prerequisite of chances 2 25
An improbable argument 2 25
Facing the firing squad 2 26
13 Fine-tuning and multiple universes 2 29
ROGER WHITE
Introduction 2 29
Probabilistic confirmation 2 30
Our universe versus some universe 2 33
Carter’s hypothesis 2 34
The observational selection effect 2 35
Improbable and surprising events 2 38
Leslie’s shooting analogy 2 40
Conclusion 2 42
Postscript 2 43
14 The chance of the gaps 2 51
WILLIAM DEMBSKI
Probabilistic resources 2 51
Universal probability bounds 2 53
The inflationary fallacy 2 55
viii
Four widely discussed inflatons 2 57
Explanatory power and independent evidence 2 60
Arthur Rubinstein—consummate pianist or lucky poseur? 2 63
Independent evidence for a designer 2 65
Closing off quantum loopholes 2 68
PART IV Biology 2 75
15 The modern intelligent design hypothesis: breaking 2 76
rules
MICHAEL BEHE
Differences from Paley 2 76
Darwinism and design 2 78
An “evolved” operon 2 81
Blood clotting 2 85
Falsifiability 2 87
16 Answering the biochemical argument from design 2 91
KENNETH R.MILLER
An exceptional claim 2 92
Mr Darwin’s workshop 2 94
Getting to the heart of the matter 2 97
Whips and syringes 2 97
Disproving design 2 99
Caught in the mousetrap 3 02
Breaking the chain 3 02
Paley’s ghost 3 04
17 Modern biologists and the argument from design 3 07
MICHAEL RUSE
Intelligent design 3 08
The explanatory filter 3 10
Intelligent design criticized 3 14
Explanatory filters 3 17
ix
The blind watchmaker 3 18
Pain 3 20
Redundancy? 3 24
Conclusion 3 25
18 The paradoxes of evolution: inevitable humans in a 3 28
lonely universe?
SIMON CONWAY MORRIS
What is best? 3 29
Hallmarks of creation? 3 31
What is inevitable? 3 33
Focusing on convergence 3 35
Converging brains? 3 37
Rare Earth? 3 39
Inevitably lonely? 3 42
19 The compatibility of Darwinism and design 3 47
PETER VAN INWAGEN
Index 3 63