Debating design
Subtitle: from Darwin to DNA
By: edited by William A. Dembski, Michael Ruse.
Contributors: Dembski, William A., 1960-; Ruse, Michael.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 405
Subjects: Evolution (Biology) -- Philosophy -- Congresses; Intelligent design (Teleology) -- Congresses; Evolution (Biology) -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- Congresses; Self-organizing systems -- Congresses
Genres: Congresses.
Description: "This volume provides a comprehensive and even-handed overview of the debate concerning biological origins. This has been a controversial debate ever since Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Invariably, the source of controversy has been design. Is the appearance of design in organisms as exhibited in their functional complexity the result of purely natural forces acting without prevision or teleology? Or does the appearance of design signify genuine prevision and teleology, and, if so, is that design empirically detectable and thus open to scientific inquiry? Four main positions have emerged in response to these questions: Darwinism, self-organization, theistic evolution, and intelligent design." "In this survey, leading figures in the debate argue for their respective positions in a nontechnical, accessible style. Readers are thus invited to draw their own conclusions. Two introductory essays furnish a historical overview of the debate." "Debating Design will interest professionals in philosophy, the history of science, biology, and religious studies."--BOOK JACKET
Notes: Papers from a conference, entitled Design and its Critics, held at Concordia University, Mequon, Wis., June 22-24, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction.  General introduction / William Dembski and Michael Ruse; title: The argument from design : a brief history / Michael Ruse; title: Who's afraid of ID? : a survey of the intelligent design movement / Angus Menuge; title: pt. I: Darwinism.  Design without designer : Darwin's greatest discovery / Francisco J. Ayala; title: The flagellum unspun : the collapse of "irreducible complexity" / Kenneth R. Miller; title: The design argument / Elliott Sober; title: DNA by design? : Stephen Meyer and the return of the god hypothesis / Robert T. Pennock; title: pt. II: Complex self-organization.  Prolegomenon to a general biology / Stuart Kauffman; title: Darwinism, design, and complex systems dynamics / Bruce H. Weber and David J. Depew; title: Emergent complexity, teleology, and the arrow of time / Paul Davies; title: The emergence of biological value / James Barham; title: pt. III: Theistic evolution.  Darwin, design, and divine providence / John F. Haught; title: The inbuilt potentiality of creation / John Polkinghorne; title: Theistic evolution / Keith Ward; title: Intelligent design : some geological, historical, and theological questions / Michael Roberts; title: The argument from laws of nature reassessed / Richard Swinburne; title: pt. IV: Intelligent design.  The logical underpinnings of intelligent design / William A. Dembski; title: Information, entropy, and the origin of life / Walter L. Bradley; title: Irreducible complexity : obstacle to Darwinian evolution / Michael J. Behe; title: The Cambrian information explosion : evidence for intelligent design / Stephen C. Meyer.