Philosophy of Religion Research

From Inconsistency to Consistency of Theism and Darwinian Evolution: A Critical Approach to Four Perspectives

Author

Professor at the Department of Philosophy of Science, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this paper, we present four philosophical approaches and their prominent advocates toward the problem of relationship between Darwinian evolution and theistic beliefs: (1) Atheistic Inconsistency: there is a deep conflict between Darwinian evolution and theism; among atheists, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett could be regarded as the best representatives in this branch. (2) Theistic Inconsistency:  A deep conflict could also be seen among theists, M.H. Tabātabā’ī’s Quranic exegesis is one of the most significant sources in this regard from Islamic side, correspondent to the same in other theistic religions. (3) Theistic Consistency: There is a concord between theism and Darwinian evolution; we have considered Alvin Plantinga and Murtazā Mutaharī in this category. (4) Reductionist Consistency: Theism and Darwinian evolution, or science and religion in general, are two different and noncompeting levels of explanation; John Haught advocates such reductionist consistency between science and religion. Having mentioned the four above classes and a few of many representatives of each category and some important questions toward these approaches, we have attempted to show that the alleged consistency between theistic beliefs and Darwinian evolution by the principle of natural selection fails.

Keywords

حسینی، سیدحسن، (1390)، «تکامل داروینی و اتئیسم»، قبسات، ش 59.
طباطبایی، علامه محمدحسین، (1382)، تفسیر المیزان، ترجمۀ سید محمدباقر موسوی همدانی. قم: دفتر انتشارات تبلیغات اسلامی، ج 4، 16.
گلشنی، مهدی، (1368)، «برخورد عمیق و فیلسوفانۀ استاد مطهری با علم جدید»، در حکمت مطهر، سیدحسن حسینی، تهران: دانشکدۀ صدا و سیما، ج ۱.
مطهری، مرتضی، (1392)، مجموعۀ آثار، تهران: صدرا، ج ۱، ۴، ۲۶.
Darwin, Chares (1964), On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray, Reprinted in Facsimile with an introduction by Ernst Mayr, Cambridge: Mass. Harvard University Press.
Dawkins, Richard (1986), The Blind Watchmaker. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Dennett, D. C. (2007), “Atheism and Evolution” in Michael Martin (ed.), The Cambridge Companion of Atheism; pp. 135-48. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haught, John F. (2009), “Darwin, Design, and Divine Providence,” in Linda Zagzebski, Timothy D. Miller (eds), Reading in Philosophy of Religion: Ancient to Conterporary. Blackwell.
Plantinga, Alvin (2002), “Introduction: Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism”. In James Beilby (ed.), Naturalism Defeated, pp. 1-12. Cornell: Cornell University.
Plantinga, Alvin (2011), Where the Contlict Really Lies, Science, Religion, and Naturalism, Oxford University Press.
Van Inwagen, Peter (2010), “Darwinism and Design,” in Melvill Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Blackwell, vol. 2, pp. 825-834.
Waters, Kenneth (2003), “The Argument in the Origin of Species,” in Jonathan Hodge and Gregory Radick (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 116-139.
Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 13, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
May 2015
Pages 71-88