Tag: William Whewell

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
November 10, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Historical Sciences
Tagged
, chance, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, domestication, John Herschel, Joseph Hooker, Linnean Society, natural forces, natural law, On the Genesis of Species, Origin of Species, quantum mechanics, randomness, Samuel Haughton, St. George Mivart, Victorian England, Whitwell Elwin, William Whewell}

A Matter of Insinuation: Chance in Darwin’s Theory

_{Neil Thomas
November 10, 2025

Evolution, Historical Sciences

11}

Think of a rock dislodged by happenstance, tumbling down a mountain, and coming to rest in some particular spot. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
December 7, 2023

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Philosophy of Science
Tagged
, Charles Darwin, Christianity, ID the Future, intelligent design, methodological naturalism, methodological pluralism, Michael Keas, podcast, scientific inquiry, William Whewell}

William Whewell: Statesman of Science

_{Andrew McDiarmid
December 7, 2023

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Philosophy of Science

2}

Are there natural limits to biological change? Is the evidence for design in nature well founded? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
November 24, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, Andrew Berry, Auguste Comte, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Darwinian, David Hume, evolution, history, John Elof Boodin, John Herschel, Nature's Prophet, On the Origin of Species, Overruling Intelligence, Quarterly Review, scientism, St. George Mivart, teleology, Thomas Henry Huxley, transmutation, William James, William Whewell, X Club}

The Outsider: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Reputation in the Darwinian Era

_{Michael Flannery
November 24, 2023

Evolution, Intelligent Design

12}

Was Alfred Wallace a “crazy” crank? Was he an undisciplined “dilettante” bemused by every fringe belief he encountered? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
September 12, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Adam Sedgwick, Alfred Russel Wallace, animal breeding, architect, beauty, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Duke of Argyll, evolution, intelligent evolution, Jerry Fodor, Joseph Hooker, Man’s Place in the Universe, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, natural selection, On the Origin of Species, orangutan, Richard Dawkins, Richard Owen, Sarawak Law, sexual selection, teleology, teleonomy, The World of Life, William Paley, William Whewell}

For Alfred Russel Wallace, Natural Selection Opened the Door to Teleology

_{Michael Flannery
September 12, 2023

Evolution, Intelligent Design

16}

Charles Darwin always recognized to some extent the problem of removing all vestiges of intelligent causation from evolutionary processes. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
August 24, 2022

Categories
Evolution
Science
Tagged
, Adam Sedgwick, Alfred Russel Wallace, Britain, Down House, evolution, friendship, history, HMS Beagle, intelligent design, Isaac Newton, natural selection, Peter Bowler, Richard Owen, Robert Chambers, Samuel Wilberforce, Thomas Huxley, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, Westminster Abbey, William Whewell}

Why Darwin Eclipsed Wallace: Darwin and the English Class System

_{Neil Thomas
August 24, 2022

Evolution, Science

7}

The theory of natural selection was the co-discovery of two men, but by the mid 1860s one of its progenitors began to reject his own theory. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
July 19, 2022

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, A. N. Wilson, Benjamin Wiker, chance, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Daniel Dennett, evolution, Geoffrey Chaucer, Hamlet, John Herschel, Karl Popper, natural selection, On the Origin of Species, Richard Dawkins, St. George Mivart, The Blind Watchmaker, Victorian England, William Whewell}

The Art of Concealment: Darwin and Chance

_{Neil Thomas
July 19, 2022

Evolution, Intelligent Design

13}

It is appropriate that Fortuna’s emblematic representation with her ubiquitous wheel should have gone on to become the prototype of the modern roulette wheel. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Date
April 11, 2019

Categories
Intelligent Design
Philosophy
Tagged
, __cedited, aesthetics, Albert Einstein, Daniel Dennett, Darwin Devolves, Darwinism, Discovery Institute, Elliott Sober, evolution, intelligent design, Jerry Fodor, Karl Popper, materialists, methodological naturalism, Michael Behe, Michael Egnor, Nancy Pearcey, Nature (journal), Phillip E. Johnson, philosophers, PNAS, science, selection, Summer Seminars, theory of mind, Thomas Kuhn, Thomas Nagel, William Whewell}

Philosophers Want Back into Science

_{Science & Culture
April 11, 2019

Intelligent Design, Philosophy

8}

One might call the 20th century a “philosopher of the gaps” period, with scientists basking in the headlines and philosophy finding less and less to do. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
August 14, 2018

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, __cedited, Adam Sedgwick, Alfred Russel Wallace, animal breeding, architect, beauty, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Duke of Argyll, evolution, intelligent evolution, Jerry Fodor, Joseph Hooker, Man’s Place in the Universe, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, natural selection, On the Origin of Species, orangutan, Richard Dawkins, Richard Owen, Sarawak Law, sexual selection, teleology, teleonomy, The World of Life, William Paley, William Whewell}

For Alfred Russel Wallace, Natural Selection Opened the Door to Teleology

_{Michael Flannery
August 14, 2018

Evolution, Intelligent Design

16}

In an excerpt from his new book, Professor Flannery identifies Darwin's principal failing in developing his theory. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
August 1, 2018

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Tagged
, __nedited, Alfred Russel Wallace, Andrew Berry, Auguste Comte, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Darwinian, David Hume, evolution, history, John Elof Boodin, John Herschel, natural theology, Nature's Prophet, On the Origin of Species, Overruling Intelligence, Quarterly Review, scientism, teleology, Thomas Henry Huxley, transmutation, William James, William Whewell, X Club}

The Outsider: Wallace’s Reputation in the Darwinian Era

_{Michael Flannery
August 1, 2018

Evolution, History of Science

12}

As I asked in a previous post: Why is Alfred Russel Wallace today a comparatively little known figure next to Darwin? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Date
November 30, 2017

Categories
Intelligent Design
Life Sciences
Tagged
, __k-review, Alfred Russel Wallace, Circumstellar Habitable Zone, intelligent design, Man’s Place in the Universe, Michael Denton, NASA, Simon Conway Morris, The Fitness of the Environment, The Wonder of Water, water, William Whewell}

Water — One of the Oldest Design Arguments

_{Science & Culture
November 30, 2017

Intelligent Design, Life Sciences

4}

Today scientists marvel at the many associations among water chemistry, the environment, and life. Read More ›