From: Ted Davis (tdavis@messiah.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 03 2002 - 08:13:21 EDT
Burgy gives Newton as an example (the first?) of a scientist using ID in his
work. In fact ID ideas trace back to the Stoics, as they are fully aware
themselves, and a great many scientists over the years have seen design as
an integral part of their scientific work. A very early example is the
pagan Greco-Roman anatomist and physician, Galen. His hymns to divine
wisdom caused Christian thinkers to see him as a type of "proto-Christian,"
and they saw Plato in much the same way because of the strong design
elements in Timaeus.
As for Newton, there are several relevant passages, but undoubtedly the
most famous is his General Scholium, appended to the second edition of the
Principia, where he makes a long argument about the dominion of the deity
and concludes, "And thus much concerning God, to discourse of whom from the
appearances of things does certainly belong to natural philosophy." This
attitude was wholly commonplace in the late 17th century.
And thus much concerning Newton...
Ted Davis
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