Though I don’t have a personal stake in establishing a Thomistic view of intelligent design, I share Catholic philosopher Logan Gage’s puzzlement at the labors of a movement of other Catholic thinkers to enlist Aquinas against ID. Why would they do that?1 Dr. Gage warns against “psychologizing those that disagree with us. Especially as philosophers, we don’t like to do this. We don’t like to try to get inside their heads as to why they’re so wrong because we don’t want them to do that to us.” So I will abstain from speculation.
He, in any event, summarizes his case with three propositions:
- Fitting Darwinism into a Thomistic framework looks difficult.
- These supposedly Thomistic objections to intelligent design are misguided
- There is nothing in St. Thomas’s thought that should keep us from seriously considering intelligent design arguments.
These might seem like obvious truths, even to a non-Catholic, but as Professor Gage observes, they’re clearly not obvious to some otherwise thoughtful people. Hence the need for this smart, detailed, and very engaging presentation:
Notes
- I realized in writing this sentence that I was unconsciously quoting The Kiffness and his viral video about the people of Springfield, Ohio. Credit where credit is due!