Tag: Denis Diderot

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
July 6, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Faith & Science
Tagged
, ancient Greeks, Augustan age, Before Philosophy, Charles Darwin, Christianity, creation stories, D’Alembert’s Dream, Denis Diderot, Erasmus Darwin, France, Genesis, Great Britain, Henri Frankfort, Higher Criticism, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, L’Homme Machine, lion, Marcion of Sinope, Mary Midgley, materialists, metaphors, mythographers, natural philosophers, natural selection, oak tree, Old Testament, On the Origin of Species, parchment, petroglyphs, religion, Sir Charles Lyell, The Origin of Society, The Temple of Nature, transmutation, Victorian England, whale}

Genesis Rescripted: Erasmus and Charles Darwin’s Biblical Indebtedness

_{Neil Thomas
July 6, 2026

Evolution, Faith & Science

13}

One may argue that myth still informs the metaphors underlying the formulation of some present-day scientific theories. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
February 20, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Science Education
Tagged
, Alvin Plantinga, Casey Luskin, Charles Darwin, Daniel Dennett, Darwin on Trial, Darwinism, Denis Diderot, England, Ernst Mayr, Establishment Clause, First Amendment, Harrisburg, Judge John E. Jones, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, Karl Popper, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, L’Homme Machine, Lehigh University, Michael Behe, natural selection, Norman Macbeth, Of Pandas and People, Pennsylvania, Phillip E. Johnson, Richard Dawkins, United States}

Teaching Darwin: A Hypothetical Program

_{Neil Thomas
February 20, 2025

Evolution, Science Education

17}

Charles Darwin himself contemplated being mistaken, writing “I have asked myself whether I may not have devoted my life to a fantasy.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
June 19, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Faith & Science
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, bacteria, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, creation, Darwinian theory, Darwinism, Denis Diderot, Enlightenment, Erasmus Darwin, Erwin Schrödinger, giraffes, Homo sapiens, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Lamarckian theory, micromutations, natural preservation, natural selection, nature, Nick Lane, On the Origin of Species, quantum physics, Stanford University, teleology, theology, Thomas Huxley, University of Chicago Press, William Paley, William Shakespeare}

Darwinian Natural Selection: A Covert Theology of Nature?

_{Neil Thomas
June 19, 2023

Evolution, Faith & Science, Intelligent Design

18}

Those who interpreted the essence of Darwinism as being an explanation of evolution in (covertly) theistic terms appear to have had a point. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
March 7, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, Denis Diderot, Erasmus Darwin, evolution, history, Howard Glicksman, intelligent design, Jerry Fodor, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, L’Homme Machine, Lamarckism, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, metaphors, Mother Nature, natural causes, natural selection, nature, On the Origin of Species, philosophes, Steve Laufmann, Thomas Malthus, transmutation, Victorians, world spirit}

Natural Selection: The Evolution of a Mirage

_{Neil Thomas
March 7, 2023

Evolution, Intelligent Design

19}

Natural selection reveals itself as not just a metaphor but a mixed one: Nature being dumb but nevertheless capable of discrimination. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
May 20, 2022

Categories
Biology
Cosmology
Faith & Science
Fine-tuning
Physical Sciences
Tagged
, astrophysicists, atheism, bioengineering, brain, Charles Darwin, Copernican Revolution, demiurge, Democritus, Denis Diderot, earth, Erasmus Darwin, human eye, humankind, Judeo-Christian tradition, life, natural selection, nature, Paul Davies, philosophes, physiology, Plato, purpose, teleology, The Miracle of Man, theism, William Paley}

In His New Book, Denton Shows How Science Leads the Charge to Theism

_{Neil Thomas
May 20, 2022

Biology, Cosmology, Faith & Science, Fine-tuning, Physical Sciences

8}

In his new book, Michael Denton is particularly strong on what he terms “the post-Copernican delusion of mankind’s cosmic irrelevance.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
January 6, 2022

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Charles Darwin, Denis Diderot, Epicurus, Erasmus Darwin, evolution, gods, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, John Herschel, Judeo-Christian tradition, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, L’Homme Machine, Lucretius, natural selection, Natural Selection: Discovery or Invention? (series), On the Origin of Species, philosophes, Robert Chambers, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, Victorians}

Natural Selection: Discovery or Invention?

_{Neil Thomas
January 6, 2022

Evolution, Intelligent Design

6}

Denis Diderot mooted the possibility of a creature evolving through habitual functioning into another form of life altogether. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
December 13, 2021

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Linguistics
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, Animal Liberation, Antony Flew, brain, Charles Darwin, Church of England, Communism, Cristian Bandea, Daniel Dennett, Darwinism, Denis Diderot, East Germany, Erasmus Darwin, Eric Metaxas, evolution, intelligent design, Michael Flannery, natural selection, Noam Chomsky, Peter Singer, philosophes, religion, Stephen Meyer, The Descent of Man, The Kingdom of Speech, The Return to the God Paradigm (series), Tom Wolfe, William Paley}

Toward a New Natural Theology

_{Neil Thomas
December 13, 2021

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Linguistics

9}

Alfred Wallace was arguing his position from simple logic rather than on the authority of revelation from any of the Abrahamic faiths. Read More ›