Category: History of Science

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
July 9, 2026

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Tagged
, adaptations, biology, conscious purposiveness, determinism, Edmund Ware Sinnott, environment, epigenetics, Eva Jablonka, evolution, Evolution: The History of an Idea, freedom, George Levine, Georges Cuvier, history, homeostasis, inheritance, instinctive regulation, J. Scott Turner, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Jerry Coyne, Jessica Riskin, Lamarckism, Laurent Larson, Marion Lamb, motivation, neo-Darwinian synthesis, personality, Peter J. Bowler, Purpose and Desire, regeneration, Skeptic Magazine, teleology, The Power of Life, Yale University}

Re-evaluating Lamarck’s Contribution to Evolutionary Thought

_{Michael Flannery
July 9, 2026

Evolution, History of Science

6}

The rehabilitation of Lamarck and the important work of scholars of the past (i.e., Sinnott) and present (i.e., Turner) suggest an interesting conclusion. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Date
June 28, 2026

Categories
Faith & Science
History of Science
Political Science
Tagged
, ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, Bible, Cicero, creator, Declaration of Independence, independence, intelligent design, John West, nature, philosophers, Psalms, Romans, Townhall}

John West: Science and the American Founding

_{Science & Culture
June 28, 2026

Faith & Science, History of Science, Political Science

2}

"Today, many people think that belief in a Creator is a subjective preference based on their personal faith. But that was not the view of America’s Founders." Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
May 26, 2026

Categories
Faith & Science
History of Science
Tagged
, affirmers, Alfred Russel Wallace, Alister McGrath, atheism, Atlantic Ocean, chance, Charles Bradlaugh, Charles Darwin, chemistry, Darwinian theism, Darwinian theists, deniers, Edward Aveling, Francis Darwin, Francis Ellingwood Abbot, HMS Beagle, intelligent evolution, Karl Giberson, Kenneth Miller, Ludwig Büchner, Maurice Mandelbaum, National Secular Society, natural selection, nature, physics, Plinian Society, religion, Robert Edmond Grant, terminology, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, The Index, theistic evolutionists, Unitarians, University of Edinburgh, William Darwin}

Darwin’s Atheism: Historical Support and a Question of Terminology

_{Michael Flannery
May 26, 2026

Faith & Science, History of Science

8}

Calling Gibberson, Miller, McGrath, and others theistic evolutionists is inaccurate because it fails to distinguish them from genuinely theistic evolutionists. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Klinghoffer

Date
May 13, 2026

Categories
History of Science
Intelligent Design
Political Science
Tagged
, Alexander H. Stephens, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Civil War, Confederacy, Cornerstone Speech, Declaration of Independence, endowed by our creator, Founders, human equality, intelligent design, John West, liturgy, natural theology, Politics, Power Line, scientific racism, slavery, Southerners, Steve Hayward, United States, window dressing}

Debating the Declaration: John West on Science in the American Founding

_{David Klinghoffer
May 13, 2026

History of Science, Intelligent Design, Political Science

2}

Even non-Christian Founders like Benjamin Franklin thought about the evidence for intelligent design. Franklin studied it as part of his private liturgy. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
May 12, 2026

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Asa Gray, bacteria, Charles Darwin, Charles Kingsley, cosmogonism, Crotchet Castle, crotchets, David Stove, Europe, evolution, evolutionary psychology, False Messiah, fish, Francis Darwin, G. B. Müller, Heilsgeschichte, HMS Beagle, humans, James Moore, Jenny (orangutan), Lamarckian theory, Melanie Phillips, monkeys, nescience, Origin of Species, panspermia, Parousia, progress, Question Time, Richard Dawkins, S. A. Newman, sociobiology, The Kingdom of Speech, Thomas Love Peacock, Thomas Malthus, Tom Wolfe, Victorians}

Paradigm Lost: Darwinism and the Idea of Human Progress

_{Neil Thomas
May 12, 2026

Evolution, History of Science, Scientific Reasoning

17}

The notion of progress is now of course increasingly questioned, especially after what has come to be known as “the calamitous 20th century.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Klinghoffer

Date
May 3, 2026

Categories
History of Science
Intelligent Design
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, computer scientists, documentary, evidence, George D. Montañez, history of science, indifference, movies, stories, The Story of Everything, theaters, Theos Theory, vegetables, YouTube channels}

Montañez: Story of Everything Is “Delicious,” Not Like Eating Your Vegetables

_{David Klinghoffer
May 3, 2026

History of Science, Intelligent Design, Scientific Reasoning

3}

Personally, I would have zero interest in a faith-based movie that preached at you. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Klinghoffer

Date
April 13, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Faith & Science
History of Science
Tagged
, aneurysm, Artemis II, astronauts, astronomers, Bethel McGrew, Book of Nature, Carl Sagan, cosmos, earth, history of science, Johannes Kepler, nihilism, paywall, planetary motion, planets, Psalms, Richard Dawkins, scientific evidence, space, stars, Stephen Meyer, The Story of Everything, theologians, universe, Victor Glover, Voyager 1, Wall Street Journal}

Contest of Cosmic Stories “Isn’t a Fair Fight”

_{David Klinghoffer
April 13, 2026

Cosmology, Faith & Science, History of Science

3}

As Bethel McGrew notes, the tradition of seeing the stars, planets, and the rest of space as pointing to a creator has a distinguished scientific history. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
April 5, 2026

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Tagged
, Charles Darwin, cultural timing, Darwinian theory, Darwinism, Discovery Institute Press, Europe, evolution, False Messiah, ID the Future, interviews, life, mythology, Neil Thomas, philosophical appeal, scientific demonstration, scientific materialism, storytelling, Taking Leave of Darwin}

Myth and Legend in Darwin’s Famous Origins Story

_{Andrew McDiarmid
April 5, 2026

Evolution, History of Science

3}

Neil Thomas makes a case that the rise of Darwin’s theory owes much to cultural timing, philosophical appeal, and persuasive storytelling. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Coppedge

Date
April 3, 2026

Categories
History of Science
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, amino acids, British Association, Cambridge University, cancer, Cavendish Laboratory, Cecil J. Monro, Charles Darwin, Charles Thaxton, configurational entropy, cosmology, Daniel Silver, Encyclopedia Britannica, evolution, fine-tuning, intelligent design, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Maxwell’s demon, molecules, Origin of Species, pain, Pangenesis, physics, poetry, punishment, Red Lions, science stopper, thermodynamics, Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism}

Post-Darwin, Too, Maxwell Drew a Remarkable Design Inference

_{David Coppedge
April 3, 2026

History of Science, Intelligent Design

11}

So far we detect significant prescience about intelligent design in Maxwell’s thought. He all but uses the phrase himself. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Coppedge

Date
April 2, 2026

Categories
History of Science
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alvin Plantinga, C. S. Lewis, Cambridge University, Christianity, Douglast Axe, evolutionary literature, G. K. Chesterton, intelligent design, James C. Rautio, James Clerk Maxwell, Katherine Dewar, Lewis Campbell, Matthew Stanley, Michael Flannery, natural theologians, naturalism, Origin of Species, poems, Select Essay Club, Stephen Meyer, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell}

Before Darwin, How Maxwell’s Intelligent Design Argument Forecast Modern ID

_{David Coppedge
April 2, 2026

History of Science, Intelligent Design

10}

He was well versed in the evolutionary literature as well as in design arguments from antiquity to his day. Read More ›