Stephen E. Jones

Creation/Evolution Quotes: Design #1

[Quotes main page] [Design, #2, #3, #4]

Design #1:

1. Design is scientific
• "[T]he inference to design is a purely a posteriori induction based on ... the logic of analogy"
2. The creations of our own minds an analogy
• "Is there anything in our experience like this? Yes, there is: our own minds"
3. Pervasive
• There seems no plan (to some) because it is all plan
4. Planning
• "The process of evolution appears ... [to be] according to some definite plan"

Design #1:

1. Design is scientific
• "[T]he inference to design is a purely a posteriori induction based on ... the logic of analogy"

"Paley was not only right in asserting the existence of an analogy between life and machines, but was also remarkably prophetic in guessing that the technological ingenuity realized in living systems is vastly in excess of anything yet accomplished by man. ... The almost irresistible force of the analogy has completely undermined the complacent assumption, prevalent in biological circles over most of the past century, that the design hypothesis can be excluded on the grounds that the notion is fundamentally a metaphysical a priori concept and therefore scientifically unsound. On the contrary, the inference to design is a purely a posteriori induction based on a ruthlessly consistent application of the logic of analogy. The conclusion may have religious implications, but it does not depend on religious presuppositions." (Denton, Michael J. [molecular biologist], "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," Burnett Books: London, 1985, p.341). [Top of page]

2. The creations of our own minds is an analogy
• "Is there anything in our experience like this? Yes, there is: our own minds"

"Matter does not need special instructions to manufacture snowflakes or sodium chloride. These forms are within its power. Not so with organic forms. Thus living forms transcend all other natural forms, not merely because of their unique activities (see Chapter 2) but also because the laws of physics and chemistry alone cannot produce them. What does produce them? What cause is responsible for the origin of the genetic code and directs it to produce animal and plant species? It cannot be matter because of itself matter has no inclination to these forms, any more than it has to the form Poseidon or to the form of a microchip or any other artifact. There must be a cause apart from matter that is able to shape and direct matter. Is there anything in our experience like this? Yes, there is: our own minds. The statue's form originates in the mind of the artist, who then subsequently shapes matter, in the appropriate way. The artist's mind is the ultimate cause of that form existing in matter, even if he or she invents a machine to manufacture the statues. For the same reasons there must be a mind that directs and shapes matter into organic forms. Even if it does so by creating chemical mechanisms to carry out the task with autonomy, this artist will be the ultimate cause of those forms existing in matter. This artist is God, and nature is God's handiwork."(Augros, Robert [philosopher] & Stanciu, George [physicist], "The New Biology: Discovering the Wisdom in Nature," New Science Library, Shambhala: Boston, MA, 1987, pp.190-191). [Top of page]

3. Pervasive
• There seems no plan (to some) because it is all plan

"All that is made seems planless to the darkened mind, because there are more plans than it looked for. In these seas there are islands where the hairs of the turf are so fine and so closely woven together that unless a man looked long at them he would see neither hairs nor weaving at all, but only the same and the flat. So with the Great Dance. Set your eyes on one movement and it will lead you through all patterns and it will seem to you the master movement. But the seeming will be true. Let no mouth open to gainsay it. There seems no plan because it is all plan: there seems no centre because it is all centre. Blessed be He!" (Lewis, Clive Staples [Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Cambridge University],* "Perelandra," The Bodley Head: London, 1977, p.251) [ Top of page]

4. Planning
• "The process of evolution appears ... [to be] according to some definite plan"

"The process of evolution appears not to be a matter of natural selection of chance variations of adaptational value. Rather it is working upon some definite law that we do not yet comprehend. The law probably began its operations with the commencement of life, and it is carrying this on according to some definite plan." (Willis, J.C. [late Director, Botanic Gardens, Rio de Janeiro], "The Course of Evolution: By Differentiation or Divergent Mutation Rather Than By Selection," Cambridge University Press: Cambridge UK, 1940, p.191) [Top of page]

* Authors with an asterisk against their name are believed to be creationists.

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