Are evolution and creation irreconcilably opposed? Is
''intelligent design'' theory an unhappy compromise? Is there another
way of approaching the present-day divide between religious and
so-called secular views of the origins of life? Jacob Klapwijk
offers a philosophical analysis of the relation of evolutionary
biology to religion, and addresses the question of whether the
evolution of life is exclusively a matter of chance or is better
understood as including the notion of purpose. Writing from a
Christian Augustinian point of view, he criticizes creationism
and intelligent design theory as well as opposing reductive
naturalism. He offers an alternative to both and an attempt to
bridge the gap between them, via the idea of ''emergent evolution''.
In this theory the process of evolution has an emergent or
innovative character resulting in a living world of ingenious,
multifaceted complexity.
目錄:
Preface
Introduction
1. Does life on Earth have a purpose?
2. Creationism, intelligent design, and Augustine''s idea of
time
3. Darwin, neo-Darwinism and the naturalistic continuity
claim
4. Miller''s pre-biotic broth and the premises of evolutionism
5. A cold shudder along Darwin''s back
6. The emergence theory of Morgan and Alexander
7. Luctor et emergo: what is emergent evolution?
8. Towards a general theory of emergent evolution
9. Hominization and the philosophy of mind
10. Augustinian faith and evolutionary science
11. The organism is a whole. The world is a habitat
12. The slumbering temptation of essentialism
13. Questions surrounding the emergence process
14. Enkapsis in nature. Is there an omega point?
Bibliography
Index.