Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
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science of purpose

Born_and_bred..._(32403043600)
Photo: A briar patch, by Phil Gayton from Totnes, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

My Briar Patch: Notes of a Country Doctor 

It took me about twenty years after medical school to break free of the intellectual "comfort" afforded by the mechanistic consensus. Read More ›
The_Doctor
Image: The Doctor, by Luke Fildes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Theist Doctor, Materialist Doctor

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 ›
071_Wild_marmot_at_Grand_Muveran_Nature_Reserve_Photo_by_Giles_Laurent
Photo credit: Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Intentionality in Living Systems: What Does It Mean?

One historically dominant position on intentionality has been the Brentano thesis, proffered by 19th-century German philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano. Read More ›
Trees_in_ICM_on_Myrstigen_hiking_trail,_Brastad_2
Photo credit: W. Carter, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Discerning the Shape of a “New Biology”

Purpose and intentionality permeate and in fact define the living state, in contrast to the inanimate. Read More ›
2560px-Mero_Epinephelus_marginatus_Madeira_Portugal_2019-05-31_DD_24
Photo credit: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Illuminating the Power of Life

That which is unique to life alone, which offers the only valid explanation of irreducible complexity, is the manifestation of goal-directed functional logic. Read More ›
bacterial flagellum
Image credit: Illustra Media.

Powers Ontology: Overcoming the Limits of Reductionist Materialism

Reductionism is a method for understanding something by minimizing it to a very simple level that can be restricted to abstract language. Read More ›
polar bear
Photo credit: AWeith, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

A Closer Look at Natural Law 

The property of a keen sense of smell allows a polar bear to smell a seal miles away under the ice. Read More ›
spiral
Photo credit: Jossuha Théophile on Unsplash.

Is Natural Law Irreducible?

Perhaps the most fundamental distinction between naturalism and intelligent design is where each metaphysical framework draws the line at irreducibility. Read More ›
DNA
Image credit: 2541163, via Pixabay.

From Jacques Monod, a Grim Message for Humanity

Biology was becoming a "real" science, melded with chemistry into the new discipline of biochemistry. At last life was reducible to molecular interactions. Read More ›
baby ape
Photo credit: Ciprian Boiciuc on Unsplash.

A Darwinian Dilemma: The Paradox of Reproduction

Astonishingly, there is one unique organ system that actually detracts from the chances of survival of even the fittest individuals. Read More ›

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