Nature, Design, and Science

Del Ratzsch is Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College. He is the author of Philosophy of Science: The Natural Sciences in Christian Perspective; The Battle of Beginnings: Why Neither Side Is Winning the Creation-Evolution Debate; and Science & its Limits: The Natural Sciences in Christian Perspective.

• Preface Introduction I DESIGN BASICS 1. Design Preliminaries2. Science and Finite Design II SUPERNATURAL DESIGN 3. Supernatural Design: Preliminary Basics4. Identifying Supernatural Design: Primary Marks5. Identifying Supernatural Design: Secondary Marks6. Designs in Nature III BOUNDARIES OF SCIENTIFIC LEGITIMACY 7. Beyond the Empirical8. The Legitimacy Criterion IV THE PERMISSIBILITY QUESTION 9. Cases for Impermissibility10. Legitimacy11. Are There Any Payoffs?12. Conclusion Appendix Dembski's Design Inference Notes Bibliography Index

"I found it remarkable—as a skeptic of both design arguments and their relevance to science—that I have come away from this book less of a skeptic than I was. I like the fact that Ratzsch's modern philosophical exploration of the full potential range of design arguments provides a firm and convincing taxonomy of the logical possibilities. This exercise clears the waters of many naive treatments pro and con, and provides a basis for raising substantially the intellectual level of the inevitable debate." — John Suppe, Princeton University"It is a bold, innovative venture into a cutting-edge field of philosophy of science—design theory. It makes an original contribution to this nascent field." — William L Craig, Biola University