Intelligent Design—Fundamentalism or Uncomfortable Challenge Cover Image

Intelligent design: Fundamentalismus oder unbequeme herausforderung
Intelligent Design—Fundamentalism or Uncomfortable Challenge

Author(s): Berthold Wald
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Contemporary Philosophy
Published by: International Étienne Gilson Society
Keywords: evolution; creation; reason; design; random variation; natural selection; irreducible complexity; Christian idea of man; Neo-Darwinism; creationism; Intelligent Design;

Summary/Abstract: Order and change in nature have been for a long time understood in philosophy and theology as founded in divine reason. In the neo-Darwinist theory of evolution, their explanation is reduced to material change without reason. Molecular biologists like M. Behe and W. Demski argue that any reductionist explanation of living beings must be wrong. The evolution of irreducible complex structures is impossible on the basis of random variation and natural selection alone, and must be the result of intelligent design. The article argues that ID-theory, unlike Biblical Creationism, is a challenge for neo-Darwinism and for modern theology as well—for, unlike the Roman magisterium, many Catholic theologians try to harmonize reductive explanation with the notion of creation.

  • Issue Year: 6/2017
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 287-321
  • Page Count: 35
  • Language: German