Table Of ContentPALGRAVE FRONTIERS IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
The Compatibility of
Evolution and Design
E. V. R. Kojonen
Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
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E. V. R. Kojonen
The Compatibility
of Evolution
and Design
E. V. R. Kojonen
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Theology
Helsinki, Finland
ISSN 2634-6176 ISSN 2634-6184 (electronic)
Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
ISBN 978-3-030-69682-5 ISBN 978-3-030-69683-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69683-2
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A
cknowledgments
Issues at the intersection of theology and the natural sciences can be dif-
ficult to write about, since it is not easy for one author to attain expertise
in all of the various fields involved. This requires especially careful work
when one is challenging popular views on foundational matters like the
relationship between evolution and divine design. Accordingly, I am
indebted to the many rigorous scholars whose work I synthesize and build
upon, and to members of the international multidisciplinary community
in the field of science and religion for supporting me in this project.
Having already explored the debate over design arguments and the rela-
tionship between science and religion in previous publications, including
The Intelligent Design Debate and the Temptation of Scientism (2016), I
begun the writing of this book began as part of the “Science-Engaged
Theology” project (2017–2019), led by John Perry and Sarah Lane
Ritchie at the University of St Andrews. The project provided an ideal
enviroment for grappling with the primary scientific literature as part of an
international team. I then completed the manuscript during the “God and
the Book of Nature” project (2019–2022), led by Mark Harris and Sarah
Lane Ritchie at the University of Edinburgh while studying the issue of
scientific epistemic authority and its limits. Both projects, and conse-
quently also this publication, were made possible through the support of
generous grants from the John Templeton Foundation. At Palgrave, series
editor Yujin Nagasawa, Brendan George, and others have also been very
supportive throughout the publication process. I am grateful for the
opportunity to pursue this research and to have the results published in
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
this series. Naturally, the opinions expressed in this publication are those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton
Foundation or any of the persons thanked.
Many colleagues have devoted time to discussing with me topics han-
dled in this book, and this has helped sharpen the arguments and consider
additional objections. Out of a large group, I wish to thank particularly
Zachary Ardern, Andrew Davidson, David Glass, Mikael Leidenhag,
Alister McGrath, Jeroen de Ridder, Bethany Sollereder, Christopher
Southgate, Aku Visala, Olli-Pekka Vainio, and Mats Wahlberg for their
detailed feedback on parts of the manuscript. I also received valuable
feedback from the anonymous peer reviewers of the manuscript, mem-
bers of the Areiopagi project and participants at Helsinki Analytic
Theology Workshops. Mark Shackleton from my home University pro-
vided feedback on my use of the English language, resulting in many
improvements in readability. However, he did not read the final version,
so any remaining errors are my own responsibility. Many thanks to every-
one, including those I have neglected to mention, for your valuable help
and encouragement along the way! And last but not least, I also want to
thank my family, particularly my mother Arja, my wife Senja, as well as my
children Sofia, Mikael, Aaron, and Nooa for constantly reminding me of
the wonder of life. My hope is that something of this wonder can also be
glimpsed from the pages that follow.
July 20, 2021 in Järvenpää, Finland Erkki Vesa Rope Kojonen
Praise for The Compatibility of Evolution and Design
“Rope Kojonen offer his readers an informed, nuanced, scholarly, cool,
philosophically and scientifically current reflection on the question of what
the concepts of ‘design’ and ‘purpose’ might mean within evolutionary
theory. His approach is necessarily disarming, subtle and gently corrosive
to all entrenched positions. No established point of view escapes unchal-
lenged—as an example of how philosophical and theological thinking can
spur imaginative progress in scientific reasoning, it is a welcome and
important contribution.”
—Tom McLeish, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department
of Physics, University of York, UK
“It shows considerable courage to re-invoke the term ‘design’ in relation
to the theology of biology. The concept seemed tellingly dismissed by
Richard Dawkins, and revived only in highly dubious form by intelligent
design theorists. So Rope Kojonen deserves great credit for re-evaluating
the idea of divine design in dialogue with the whole range of contempo-
rary literature. This book will fill a gap in that literature, and should be of
considerable help to teachers and students alike.”
—Christopher Southgate, Professor of Christian Theodicy,
University of Exeter, UK
“A remarkably helpful and important intervention in the long-standing
debates about arguments from design, natural theology, and the impact of
evolutionary theory on Christian theology and apologetics. Kojonen’s
work enables a richer and fuller engagement with these important topics,
while opening up fresh lines of discussion and exploration, especially in
relation to how we should understand—and might also discern—design
within the natural world.”
—Alister E. McGrath, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion,
University of Oxford, UK
viii PRAISE FOR THE COMPATIBILITY OF EVOLUTION AND DESIGN
“This book offers a well-researched, lucid, carefully argued, and well-
balanced assessment of whether evolutionary theory is compatible with
holding that biological teleology provides evidence of a Creator. It is an
essential reading for anyone interested in the relationship between science,
philosophy, and religion.”
—Andrew T. Loke, Associate Professor, Hong Kong
Baptist University, Hong Kong
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Paley’s Cosmic Temple and the Darwinian
Critique 1
1.1 Nature as a Temple 1
1.2 The Task of This Book 4
1.3 The Structure of the Book 8
References 11
2 Reclaiming the Biological Design Argument: A
Preposterous and Dangerous Idea? 13
2.1 Between Scientism and Fideism 14
The Philosophy of Scientism 14
Faith and Reason 17
God the Designer? 22
2.2 On the Compatibility of Evolution and Creation 26
The Assumption of Conflict 26
Divine Action and Chance 28
Beyond Mere Compatibility 30
2.3 Perceiving Design in Nature 32
Design Arguments and the “Theist on the Street” 32
Design Discourse Rather Than Design Arguments? 34
Debunking Arguments 39
2.4 Conclusions 44
References 47
ix
