Tag: science of purpose

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
November 17, 2025

Categories
Engineering
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, __featured2, Aristotelianism, Aristotle, artifacts, artwork, axes, biology, cats' claws, causality, chairs, conveyances, cups, DNA, dwellings, E.O. Wilson, emergence, enzymes, evolution, Evolution “On Purpose”, final causality, Francis Bacon, human artifacts, Immanuel Kant, intelligent design, Irreducible Complexity, Isaac Newton, Jacques Monod, Judeo-Christian tradition, Leonard Susskind, Life Itself, Ludwig Wittgenstein, machines, mechanics, Michael Behe, Neo-Darwinism, purpose, randomness-selection hypothesis, René Descartes, Robert Rosen, rockets, science of purpose, Sir Martin Rees, spoons, St. Thomas Aquinas, Stephen Hawking, structure-function relationship, telos, Theodosius Dobzhansky, tools, William Dembski, windmills}

What Is the Originating Source of Design in Organisms?

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
November 17, 2025

Engineering, Intelligent Design

9}

The genesis of structure-function relationships in human artifacts is as well understood as are their mechanics. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
October 29, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, __recommended, abstraction, aeronautics, airflow, airfoil, Albert Einstein, anatomy, antennae, arches, Aristotle, balloons, biology, bird wings, black-body radiation, duality, emergence, engineering, Erwin Schrödinger, evolution, footballs, formalisms, function, intelligent design, Isaac Newton, mathematicians, Michael Behe, molecular biology, parachutes, physics, physiology, Pierre-Simon Laplace, pistons, propellers, pulleys, radiators, René Descartes, Return of the God Hypothesis, rockets, science of purpose, scientism, specified irreducible complexity, Stephen Meyer, structure, structure-function dualism, structure-function relationship, Werner Heisenberg, What Is Life?, wing}

Emergence and Irreducible Complexity: A Unified Theory

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
October 29, 2025

Evolution, Intelligent Design

7}

We are all familiar with the duality — structure and function — from both technology and biology. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
June 20, 2025

Categories
Faith & Science
Intelligent Design
Philosophy of Science
Tagged
, "survival of the fittest", biology, cells, Chance & Necessity, CRISPRs, Daniel Witt, Evolution on Purpose, final cause, foxes, hares, integrons, intelligent design, internal regulatory control networks, James Shapiro, Jaques Monod, life, materialism, materialist paradigm, miracles, Modern Synthesis, molecules, mutations, neo-Darwinian evolution, organisms, organs, Peter Corning, purpose, retroposons, science of purpose, teleology, teleonomy, telos, Thomism, transposons}

From Materialist Biologists, a Profound Capitulation

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
June 20, 2025

Faith & Science, Intelligent Design, Philosophy of Science

8}

I have warned that one of the few remaining avenues that naturalism can take to rescue its paradigm is to appropriate “purpose” within a materialist framework. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
May 31, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Faith & Science
Intelligent Design
Metaphysics
Tagged
, anticipation, August Weismann, Bible, biosphere, building blocks, causation, Chance and Necessity, chipmunks, cognition, Design Inference, DNA, electromagnetism, Ferrari, final cause, flowering plants, Ford Mustang, Francis Crick, grizzly bear, immanent power, intelligent design, Isaac Newton, James Hutchison Stirling, Jaques Monod, natural selection, natural theology, necessity, nectar, perch, pollinators, purpose, representational directedness, rodent, science of purpose, telos, Thomas Aquinas, Thomism, tuna, William A. Dembski, wolf}

Teleology: Anticipation and Necessity

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
May 31, 2025

Evolution, Faith & Science, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics

10}

Imagine a primordial grizzly bear on the northern edge of the forest adjacent to the Arctic. His soma senses the differences of the new environment. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
April 22, 2025

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Metaphysics
Tagged
, Antony Flew, central dogma, Chance & Necessity, Charles Darwin, Colin Pittendrigh, Daniel Witt, Design Inference, Erwin Schrödinger, Eugene Wigner, Francis Crick, God Hypothesis, intention, Irreducible Complexity, Isaac Newton, Jaques Monod, Life Itself, materialism, Michael Levin, molecular biology, natural law, physicalism, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Plato, Plato's Revenge, Richard Sternberg, Robert Rosen, Sahotra Sarkar, science of purpose, scientific atheism, scientism, specified complexity, telos, theologians, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Kuhn}

Life Itself: In Michael Levin’s Platonism, Teleology Advances

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
April 22, 2025

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics

11}

This is a huge step by a leading contemporary academic scientist away from pure physicalism. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
January 30, 2025

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Metaphysics
Tagged
, Andreas Wagner, Anthony Flew, Aristotle, arrival of the fittest, causation, causes, Daniel Witt, Darwin's Black Box, David Gelernter, DNA, Energy, Irreducible Complexity, Jacques Monod, Life Itself, logic, mastodons, matter, Michael Behe, Michael Polanyi, natural law, observation, oxidation, purpose, reduction, Robert Rosen, science of purpose, Stuart Kauffman, subatomic particles, supernovae, T. rex, telos, Thomistic Aristotelianism}

The Metaphysics of Irreducible Complexity

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
January 30, 2025

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics

8}

The vastness of life’s complexity is no longer unfathomable when seen through the light of purpose. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
September 26, 2024

Categories
Intelligent Design
Medicine
Tagged
, Br'er Rabbit, cancer, Daniel Witt, Francis Crick, geocentrism, heliocentrism, Jacques Monod, James Watson, John Searle, medicine, painting, piano, planets, René Descartes, science of purpose, scientific atheism, Stuart Kauffman, telos, UC Berkeley}

My Briar Patch: Notes of a Country Doctor

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
September 26, 2024

Intelligent Design, Medicine

7}

It took me about twenty years after medical school to break free of the intellectual "comfort" afforded by the mechanistic consensus. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Daniel Witt

Date
September 9, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Metaphysics
Tagged
, algorithms, amino acids, Aristotle, causation, chickens, evolution, Evolution “On Purpose”, evolutionary theorists, explanations, final cause, G.K. Chesterton, human body, intelligent design, laws of physics, life, materialism, Mereology, Mona Lisa, oncologists, purpose, purposefulness, quantum physics, science of purpose, screwdriver, Stephen J. Iacoboni, Stuart Kauffman, supernatural, Thomas Aquinas, universe}

Theist Doctor, Materialist Doctor

_{Daniel Witt
September 9, 2024

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics

16}

To be a good medical doctor, you have to treat the human body as if its parts have purpose and function. There’s really no way around it. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
August 28, 2024

Categories
Intelligent Design
Life Sciences
Philosophy
Tagged
, aboutness, angiosperms, biosphere, breeding, cell membrane, combustion, dispositionalism, intentionality, migration, ozone, René Descartes, Robert Rosen, science of purpose, Thomas Aquinas, transcription, Unmoved Mover}

Intentionality in Living Systems: What Does It Mean?

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
August 28, 2024

Intelligent Design, Life Sciences, Philosophy

6}

One historically dominant position on intentionality has been the Brentano thesis, proffered by 19th-century German philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen J. Iacoboni

Date
August 12, 2024

Categories
Biology
Intelligent Design
Life Sciences
Tagged
, Aristotle, Bertrand Russell, Carl Woese, causation, cells, Chance and Necessity, David Hume, dispositionalism, Evolution News, final cause, intentionality, Isaac Newton, Jacques Monod, Michael Behe, organelle, powers ontology, purpose, René Descartes, science of purpose, telos, The Design Inference, Walter Elsasser, William A. Dembski}

Discerning the Shape of a “New Biology”

_{Stephen J. Iacoboni
August 12, 2024

Biology, Intelligent Design, Life Sciences

5}

Purpose and intentionality permeate and in fact define the living state, in contrast to the inanimate. Read More ›