Episode Details

Biology is unique among the sciences in its apparently absolute dependence on language that implies a goal, direction, or intention. Does this mean that biology IS goal-oriented, or directed? If so, that has huge philosophical and theological implications!?

Our deep-dive into Intelligent Design got us wondering why so many people embrace that worldview. Not just “sheeple” who can often blindly follow vocal proponents of even crazy beliefs (COVID was a global government-orchestrated event; vaccines cause autism; everything Q-Anon; the “stolen” election), but even many with impressive academic credentials who appear to have researched the question. In trying to understand this, we came across an article with the title The Teleological Menace: Why Biology (Still) Requires God by Seth Hart, a doctoral candidate whose current research project asks: does Darwinism (Natural Selection as a causal mechanism of evolution) require teleological concepts? He made many great points that are worth sharing with our listeners.

Some of the main points we discussed with him included:

• biology is more dependent upon teleological language than all the other sciences like physics, chemistry or astronomy; both the Darwinism of the 19^th century and the more modern Extended Synthesis are dependent on this
• organisms don’t just occupy their niches … they create those niches and then occupy the latter. In other words, they are agents in their own evolution.
• definitions of “teleology” and “teleological language” … roots in Platonic thinking; highly developed by Aristotle; points toward ultimate meaning and purpose
• during 13^th to 16^th centuries, there was a movement away from teleology within the natural sciences; this was a theological decision led by Theists like Descartes and Bacon, not an anti-religious one! Likewise, it was Jewish and Christian thinking that began to move the world away from invoking spiritual explanations into natural phenomena
• however, biologists like William Harvey, Robert Boyle, William Paley were very resist