Evidence of Purpose: Scientists Discover the Creator (Hardcover)

by John Marks Templeton (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Ten renowned scientists weigh the possibility of intentional design in the universe. They cover a broad spectrum of theological and philosophical conviction, yet all see evidence of a deep meaning written into the laws and processes of nature. Astronomer Owen Gingerich writes that nature, with its astonishing details (a blade of grass or a cone shell, for example), suggests a God of purpose and design. Paul Davies, a professor of mathematical physics, says that the fact that the universe's form is linked so intimately with our own existence is evidence that the universe exists for a purpose, and that in our small yet significant way, we are part of that purpose. Among the other essayists, John Eccles, winner of a Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine, analyzes the evolution of purpose, and science professor Waiter Hearn discusses the evidence of purpose in the universe, taking into consideration the subject of science as a challenger of religious concepts. The book may be too scholarly for some readers, but for those willing to stick with it, there is much to be gleaned. George Cohen

Product Description
For nearly a century, the central theological message of science seemed to be that there was no need for theology: science could stand alone to explain the universe. But today that message is changing, as many scientists find that their research leads them into a world of philsophical and theological speculation where science is not itself God, but only a way of approaching God. Scientists from a wide variety of disciplines have become united in their opinion that there is something about the universe, and about us as human beings, that indicates not randomness, but design. In a phrase, their scientific findings show evidence of purpose.

In this volume, Sir John Marks Templeton brings together a gallery of respected scientists who describe new developments in their fields and the relationship between these developments and a theological views of the universe. What emerges is a universe permeated by creativity, organization, intention: a universe reflecting God's existence and will.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press; illustrated edition edition (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826406491
• ISBN-13: 978-0826406491
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,049,234 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dare scientists believe in design?, January 6, 2008

By	Barbara L. Lemaster "Bibliophile" (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

By the middle of the last century, science had at last triumphed over superstition, and science had also, to a degree, put aside the notion that a Creator existed. However, many scientists see no reason to separate the two. Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying, "Science without religion is blind, and religion without science is lame." This book contains ten thought-provoking essays from scientists who see evidence of design in the universe.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refuting the argument of the "Blind Watchmaker", October 11, 2007

By	Golden Lion "Reader" (North Ogden, Ut United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

1. "To consider the evidence of purpose, we must define the meaning of cause, for purpose is final cause, one of the four types of cause by Aristole."
2. Final cause is the intended purpose of the maker of the of object
3. Formal cause is the maker's plan or blueprint for the object
4. Material cause is the raw material from which it was made
5. Efficient cause is the force applied to raw material that produces the object. Efficient cause or applied forces is not necessarily a denial of purpose. "When we humans make tools, the shaping forces (efficient cause) act upon the raw materials (material causes) under the direction of our intelligent design or blue print (formal causes) to the tool we intend on making (final cause). A formal cause may by a crystal structure or a parental strand of DNA. "In both human and natural causality, formal cause act as boundary conditions to constrain/direct the force of the efficient cause" - meaning a sphere of influence or intelligent constraint exists.
6. A scientific guess is not a fact: Material causes can't be responsible for creation. The Modern Synthesis of the 1940, stated, "Natural selection is a creator, it builds adaptation step by step." Evolution proponents guest on the means of creation and assumed they were absolutely right. The guess was 100 percent wrong. Lets look at the goals associated with creation. First, we must assume that a template goal or pattern of creation exists. Second, the purpose goal of the final causes does not care about the agent that acts in the gaps between natural processes, but rather, "one who directs them". Third, an immaterial entity acting as a cause for creation offers no proof of a creator. Fourth, if no purpose for creation can be derived than this is analogous to an autonomous material universe. Furthermore, a universe with intent is a universe where the material cause is the product of random and self-organizing patterns of material structures running simple cellular algorithms that form everything and the final cause will be both wise and intelligent. Fifth, we use mental templates or mental remembrances (analogous comparison) to recognize pattern and purpose. "In the case of human artifacts, we recognize purpose against a backdrop of natural purposeless events. We deduce complex formal causes from complex effects, which we detect against a background of alternative simple effects with greater probability." "Without template we can see no utility." Sixth, Asa Grey states, "On the other hand, an omnipotent and omniscient Creator ordains everything and foresees everything. Thus we are brought face-to-face with a difficulty as insoluble as is that of free will and predestination." "Ultimate cause does shape the whole show."
7. The argument of the blind watchmaker is no convincing. Richard Dawkins argues that intelligence is not need in formal cause. "In brief, all living things are the products of specific genomes." DNA, gene mutation, and selection create all the diversity of life. All the possible genetic messages are points in a single multidimensional probability space called genetic phase space. Variation is created as mutation randomly throws up new sequences and environmentally based selection accumulates those that are useful. The cosmos acts as the "blind watch maker". First, the biomorph program is not powerful enough to represent the genetic phase space and it conclusions therefore are incomplete. Second, the biomorph shapes, forms, and outcomes defy reality. Mutations never create new species and often do not survive in nature. Domestic breeding does not have the power or ability to create new species. The biomorph, random search in the GPS was neither predictable and in many forms possible. "The outcomes depend entirely on the characteristics of the probability space being searched." A human form cannot emerge in a sulfur-dominated environment, a non-carbon based atmosphere, or a non-ferrous core planet. The GPS probability of biomorph land was 10 ^ 15 power, whereas, the GPS of genome of the mammalian size (2.5 billion bases) contains 10^1,000,000,000 binary bits of information. Second, "The fraction of the probability space made available to selection each generation is much smaller in genetic systems. No matter how many offspring are generated, they clearly represent (search) a much small fraction of the GPS than the equivalent set of biomorph probes" Finding the next step in the trajectory of the GPS will be more difficult. Natural selection does not provide the mechanism to make the jump through the GPS. Evolution provides not concrete explanation of navigation through the GPS. Natural selection does not have the power necessary to achieve trajectory.
8. Biomorphs create impossible GPS trajectories. No biomorph necessarily dies without offspring; because the biomorph may be chosen as an "intelligent selector" that is using the program and thus, in biomorph probability space, no trajectory is impossible. In nature most mutants die. The acceptance of non-intelligent formal causes for biological morphologies depends on the existence and likelihood of viable trajectories across the GPS, reasonably probable trajectories that depend on the accumulation of minor sequences of change. However, isolated, viable spots in the GPS may exist with so many simultaneous specific point mutations to reach, that an intelligent formal cause would be the simplest explanation.
9. Fossils don't demonstrate sequential morphologies. Fossils appear fully formed with complete organs. The species does not change over millions of years in structure. "We don't know if viable locations in the GPS are uniformly distributed, continuous networks , or clumped and isolated." A goal seeking blue print is need for single cells to become an organ. Control systems in the body are necessary for organ formation. (See Cross Currents). The control system turn on and off organ formation; Mutation lack coherency necessary for organ formation. Organ formation is intelligent. Mutation and environment are noise in the system not formal causes. A major morphology would require a major change in the control genes and understandable in gene control or the species would not survive. Evolutionary explanations are a "field of dreams" and the least understood.
10. "Stephen Gould suggests that perfect adaptation achieved through neo-darwinian mechanism requires relentless slaughter, and is thus morally repugnant." A mutational search through GPS for a lineage path will be directionless and hardly reasonable if he is also assuming hat selection is directed. Divine intervention is the final cause.