Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
Author

Neil Thomas

Inchneumonidae
Photo: An ichneumon wasp, seen by Charles Darwin as a challenge to theism; by IronChris, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Evolutionary Theory as Magical Thinking

Charles Darwin himself exemplified the Argument from Pique, alluded to in past entries in this series, to a tee. Read More ›
Pope Pius IX
Photo: Pope Pius IX, by Adolphe Braun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin and the Swinging 1860s

The threat which such thinking posed to theistic beliefs was not lost on the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council of 1869. Read More ›
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Photo: Algernon Charles Swinburne, by Elliott & Fry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin and Theomachy

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) provides the closest chronological fit with Darwin. Read More ›
Placard-JGruet-1547
Image: Poison pen letter, by Jacques Gruet (?-1547), Genève, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Literary Footnotes to the Book of Job

Of immediate relevance to Darwin’s generation were writers who can be traced in a fairly direct line from the beginning of the 19th century. Read More ›
L0003411 Mary Augusta, Mrs. Humphry Ward. Photograph by Barraud.
Photo: Mrs. Humphry Ward, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin and the Victorian Culture Wars

As Alec Ryrie pointed out in his history of Doubt, “intellectuals and philosophers may think they make the weather, but they are more often driven by it.” Read More ›
Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano 2
Photo: Queen Victoria, by Alexander Bassano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin and the Victorian Crisis of Faith 

Fleeming Jenkin (the distinguished Scottish scientist who with Lord Kelvin spearheaded the laying of the transatlantic cable) was particularly scathing. Read More ›
Sir Isaac Newton
Image: Isaac Newton, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin and the Newtonian Metanarrative

People chose to believe what they wanted to believe in obedience to the then reigning intellectual fashion. Read More ›
Tomb of Darwin
National Review
Photo: Tomb of Charles Darwin, Westminster Abbey, via Wikimedia Commons.

For Darwin, Timing Was Everything

Charles Darwin, as we saw yesterday, pulled off an intellectual coup against the major thinkers of the Western tradition. How did he do it? Read More ›
Artemis
Image: Artemis, goddess of the hunt, with nymphs; a fresco from Pompeii, by ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Ghost of Epicurus and the Doctrine of Natural Selection

The classical pantheon, lacking moral credibility, had become a source of embarrassment to thoughtful Greeks. Read More ›
Phoenix-Fabelwesen
Image: Phoenix, by Bertuch-fabelwesen.JPG: Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (1747–1822)derivative work: Tsaag Valren, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Enlightenment (Re)turn to Atomism

What distinguished thinkers had long called out for its manifest absurdity was now, Phoenix-like, rising from the ashes. Read More ›

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