God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science / Edition 1

by Neil A. Manson

Overview

Recent discoveries in physics, cosmology, and biochemistry have captured the public imagination and made the Design Argument - the theory that God created the world according to a specific plan - the object of renewed scientific and philosophical interest. This accessible but serious introduction to the design problem brings together new perspectives from prominent scientists and philosophers including Paul Davies, Richard Swinburne, Sir Martin Rees, Michael Behe, Elliot Sober and Peter van Inwagen.
It probes the relationship between modern science and religious belief, considering their points of conflict and their many points of similarity. Is the real God of creationism the 'master clockmaker' who sets the world's mechanism on a perfectly enduring course, or a miraculous presence who continually intervenes in and alters the world we know? Are science and faith, or evolution and creation, really in conflict at all? Expanding the parameters of a lively and urgent debate, God and Design considers how perennial questions of origin continue to fascinate and disturb us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415263436
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/30/2003
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Neil A. Manson currently teaches at the Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. A former Gifford Research Fellow in Natural Theology at the University of Aberdeen, he has a long-standing interest in the science and religion debate.

Table of Contents

I GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1. The Design Argument 2. The Meaning of Design 3. The Design Inference: Old Wine in New Wineskins 4. God by Design 5. The Argument to God from Fine-tuning Reassessed 6. Perceiving Design II PHYSICAL COSMOLOGY 7. The Apperance of Design in Physics and Cosmology 8. Design and the Anthropic Fine-tuning of the Universe 9. Evidence for Fine-Tuning 10. Probabilities and the Fine-tuning Argument: A Skeptical View III MULTIPLE UNIVERSES 11. Other Universes: A Scientific Perspective 12. Too Many Universes 13. Fine-tuning and Multiple Universes 14. The Chance of the Gaps IV. BIOLOGY 15. The Modern Intelligent Design Hypothesis: Breaking Rules 16. Answering the Biochemical Argument from Design 17. Modern Biologists and the Argument from Design 18. Paradoxes of Evolution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe? 19. The Compatibility of Darwinism and Design

Editorial Reviews

'Neil Manson has done an excellent job in assembling such a comprehensive and star-studded cast of contributors. He has also written a very useful introduction himself that identifies all the main areas of debate ... this book is likely to remain the best guide to it for some time to come.' - Fraser Watts

'As this collection shows, the debates about God and design are far from dead, and can be intellectually fascinating.' - Religious Studies

'This collection is successful in illustrating the main questions relating to the discovery of a Design from scientific arguments.' -

'This volume is a rich discussion for and against arguments from order, intelligibility, and purposefulness to the existence of a designer, who might be God.' - Bijdragen, International Journal in Philosophy and Theology

'This book comes highly recommended ...' - The Secular Web

'This volume is to be recommended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate classes on philosophy of religion and philosophy of science, among other more specialized courses focused on design arguments.' Amos Yong, Regent University of Divinity, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher