Has Darwin Met His Match?

In the December 2002 issue of Commentary, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow, David Berlinski, offered this thoughtful, respectful, mid-course evaluation of intelligent design. David has established some important intellectual milestones that have been passed, as well as setting goal lines yet to be met. For another mid-course evaluation see William Dembski’s Becoming a Disciplined Science

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THE REVEREND William Paley published Natural Theology: Or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature in 1802, shortly after the French astronomer and mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace brought out the first two volumes of his Traite du Mecanique Celeste. Twenty-three years later, Laplace published the fifth and final volume of his magnificent treatise, and so brought to a close the first and greatest of scientific revolutions. He was thereafter promoted to the scientific pantheon, where, dignified among the immortals, he has reposed ever since. Paley, by contrast, has been the victim of a number of near-death experiences, and like so many men who have survived close calls, he has remained eager to remind the world that he is still alive.

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