The Levin Teleology Revolution Is Here

academia, Aristotle, Biological Theory, biology, Brian Charlesworth, Brian Miller, careers, cognition, computer code, David B. Resnik, designer, Douglas Futuyma, Evolution, Gen Z, gender issues, goal-directedness, graduate school, intelligence, Intelligent Design, intentionality, Jerry Coyne, Michael Levin, neo-Darwinians, neuroscience, Plato, Plato's Revenge, purpose, reactionaries, Richard Dawkins, Richard Sternberg, Stuart Burgess, teleology, Tufts University
He has assembled a global community of like-minded investigators who openly advocate teleological arguments harking back to Aristotle and Plato. Source
Read More

Happy Darwin Day! Significance of New Book on Human Anatomy Cannot Be Overstated

"poor design", anatomy, biology, bridges, design logic, Duke University, dysteleology, Engineering, Evolution, human anatomy, human body, Human Errors, human spine, Intelligent Design, joints, knee, load-baring capacity, longevity, motion, Nathan Lents, optimal design, Steven Vogel, Stuart Burgess, suboptimal design, teleology, tinkering, Ultimate Engineering, upright walking, vertebral disks
Dr. Burgess's own research proved that knee joint geometry and supporting structures are optimally designed to achieve multiple objectives. Source
Read More

In Biology, Replacing Chance with Purpose Is the New Paradigm

Abraham, Aristotle, biology, Chance and Necessity, Chemistry, Christianity, Darwinism, Evolution, God Hypothesis, Intelligent Design, Jaques Monod, Kansas, laws of nature, Mariusz Tabaczek, materialism, Modern Synthesis, molecular biology, natural processes, naturalism, Neo-Darwinism, Nobel laureates, paradigm, physics, purpose, René Descartes, science of purpose, scientific atheism, scientism, St. Thomas Aquinas, teleology, telos, theistic evolution, Thomistic Aristotelianism, Thomists
In my most recent post in this series on the science of purpose, I concluded that the proper means of understanding our world requires that we include both purpose and necessity as fundamental elements of any comprehensive framework. I noted that the flagship phrase of 20th-century scientific atheism, as articulated by Nobel laureate Jaques Monod in his book Chance and Necessity, acknowledged necessity but explicitly and intentionally eliminated purpose from scientific dialogue.  Now some fifty years later we see that Monod’s paradigm has failed. And that the only possible way of understanding life on earth is to replace chance with purpose. Doing so reverses an epistemological trend stretching back almost 150 years. As such, it is incumbent that we fortify and substantiate the basis for what many would see as a revolutionary new paradigm. That is the goal of this essay. In Read More › Source
Read More

Casey Luskin on the Rising Tide of Intelligent Design Research

biological features, biological traits, body plans, Casey Luskin, Christmas, common ancestry, complex parts, discoveries, Engineering, Evolution, evolutionary biology, functionality, genome, genome sequencing, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Junk DNA, Neo-Darwinism, organs, origin of life, orphan genes, predictions, purpose, Research, teleology, tide, trees of life, universe
Any scientific theory for the origin of life and the universe is only as strong as its research program. For intelligent design, this is good news. Source
Read More

Destroyer or Nurturer? Darwin’s Divinized Conception of Nature

Alan of, Alfred Russel Wallace, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bernard Silvestris, Charles Darwin, Charlotte Brontë, cosmology, Darwinism, Edward Pusey, Evolution, Faith & Science, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Levine, historical sciences, Jane Eyre, Jean de Meun, Lamarckism, maternal figure, Mother Nature, Natura, Natura creatrix, natural preservation, natural selection, natural theology, Ovid, Physis, Queens of the Wild, Robert J. Richards, Romance of the Rose, Ronald Hutton, teleology, world spirit
The powers of natural selection transcend human intelligence to such a degree that Darwin came close to imputing to it the capacity for intelligent design. Source
Read More

Is Intelligent Design Gaining the Upper Hand?

abiogenesis, biocomplexity, biologists, Case Western Reserve University, credibility, Eva Jablonka, Evolution, Evolution “On Purpose”, Freudian slip, grammar, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Jan Spitzer, Journal of Molecular Evolution, methodological naturalism, MIT Press, Nita Sahai, origin of life, Peter Corning, scientific establishment, Scientific Trustworthiness, Simona Ginsburg, teleological, teleology, teleonomic
The underlying dynamic here is one of fear — fear of being associated with a movement one cannot easily dispel through evidence and argument. Source
Read More

Here’s the Venn Diagram from My Conversation with Denis Noble 

biologists, biology, Casey Luskin, Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, Denis Noble, differences, Discovery Institute, Engineering, engineers, environmental changes, Evolution, function, ID 3.0, information, Intelligent Design, intention, natural selection, Neo-Darwinism, Perry Marshall, poster, purpose, random mutation, randomness, similarities, teleology, Third Way of Evolution, top-down design, Venn diagram
While preparing for the conversation, I created the diagram comparing the similarities and differences among three viewpoints. Source
Read More

From Materialist Biologists, a Profound Capitulation

"survival of the fittest", biology, cell's, Chance & Necessity, CRISPRs, Daniel Witt, Evolution “On Purpose”, Faith & Science, final causality, foxes, hares, integrons, Intelligent Design, internal regulatory control networks, James Shapiro, Jaques Monod, life, materialism, materialist paradigm, miracles, Modern Synthesis, molecules, mutations, neo-Darwinian evolution, organisms, organs, Peter Corning, Philosophy of Science, purpose, retroposons, science of purpose, teleology, teleonomy, telos, Thomism, transposons
I have warned that one of the few remaining avenues that naturalism can take to rescue its paradigm is to appropriate “purpose” within a materialist framework. Source
Read More