Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T22:05:51.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - A Philosopher in the Age of Creationism

What Have I Learned after Fifty Years Doing Philosophy of Biology That I Want to Pass On to Biologists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2020

By
Michael Ruse
Edited by
Kostas Kampourakis  and
Tobias Uller
Kostas Kampourakis
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Tobias Uller
Affiliation:
Lunds Universitet, Sweden
Get access

Summary

Modern-day Creationism, taking the Bible literally, lays claim to being the truly authentic Christianity dating back to the Gospels. But while it is true that there have always been those inclined to read scripture more literally than others, from the first there have been interpretations and more, taking one away from the actual words of the text. St. Augustine, the most influential figure in Western Christianity, was clear on this. The Bible is inspired, the Word of God. God, however, knew that He could not always talk literally. The ancient Jews were not sophisticated, fourth-century Romans and would have had little understanding if, say, rainbows were described in scientific terms. Metaphor or allegory was essential (Augustine 1982).

Type
Chapter
Information
Philosophy of Science for Biologists , pp. 275 - 298
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

St.Augustine, (1982). The Literal Meaning of Genesis. Taylor, J. H., trans. New York: Newman.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, R. (1953). Scientific Explanation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bullivant, S. B. & Ruse, M. (eds.) (2013.) Oxford Handbook to Atheism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S. (2003). Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coyne, J. (2002). Intergalactic Jesus. London Review of Books 24(9).Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. New York: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt.Google Scholar
Dembski, W. A. & Ruse, M. (eds.) (2004). Debating Design: Darwin to DNA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gish, D. (1973). Evolution: The Fossils Say No! San Diego: Creation-Life.Google Scholar
Goudge, T. A. (1961). The Ascent of Life. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Haldane, J. B. S. (1927). Possible Worlds and Other Essays. London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Hanson, N. R. (1958). Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hempel, C. G. (1965). Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Hempel, C. G. (1966). Philosophy of Natural Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Hesse, M. (1966). Models and Analogies in Science. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Honenberger, P. (2018). Darwin among the Philosophers: Hull and Ruse on Darwin, Herschel, and Whewell. HOPOS 8: 278–309.Google Scholar
Hull, D. L. (1974). The Philosophy of Biological Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Huxley, J. S. (1927). Religion without Revelation. London: Ernest Benn.Google Scholar
Johnson, P. E. (1991). Darwin on Trial. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1993). Metaphor in Science. In Ortony, Andrew (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed. , p. 533–542. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, E. J. (1997). Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
McShea, D. W. & Brandon, R. (2010). Biology's First Law: The Tendency for Diversity and Complexity to Increase in Evolutionary Systems. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, E. (1961). The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Numbers, R. L. 2006. The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. Standard ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Paley, W. ([1802] 1819). Natural Theology (Collected Works: IV). London: Rivington.Google Scholar
Popper, K. R. 1972. Objective Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Porterfield, A. 2012. Conceived in Doubt: Religion and Politics in the New American Nation (American Beginnings, 1500–1900). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (1973). The Philosophy of Biology. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (1979). The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (1986). Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ruse, M (ed.) (1988). But Is It Science? The Philosophical Question in the Creation/Evolution Controversy. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (1996). Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2001). Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? The Relationship between Science and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2003). Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2005). The Evolution–Creation Struggle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2006). Darwinism and Its Discontents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2010). Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2013). The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2015). Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruse, M. (2016.). Evolution and Religion: A Dialogue. 2nd ed.. Lanham, MD.: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2017a). Darwinism as Religion: What Literature Tells Us About Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2017b). On Purpose. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2018a). The Problem of War: Darwinism, Christianity, and Their Battle to Understand Human Conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2018b). The Darwinian Revolution: What Philosophers Should Know. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2019). A Meaning to Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. & Richards, R. J. (eds.) (2017). The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smart, J. J. C. (1963). Philosophy and Scientific Realism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Whitcomb, J. C. & Morris, H. M. (1961). The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. (1978). On Human Nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. (1992). The Diversity of Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Woodger, J. H. (1952). Biology and Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×