StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The debate on the existence of God and origination of the materialistic world and living beings has been evolving for ages. Our world has ever been witnessed numerous philosophers, scientists, religious leaders and theologians argue on the subject of existence or non – existence of God…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.4% of users find it useful
The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion"

?The Darwin Natural Selection and its Relation to Science & Religion Naturalism, Darwin and His Counterparts The debate on the existence of God and origination of the materialistic world and living beings has been evolving for ages. Our world has ever been witnessed numerous philosophers, scientists, religious leaders and theologians argue on the subject of existence or non – existence of God. One of the theologians who have out rightly denied the existence of God is Charles Darwin. His theology of natural selection has raised many eyebrows in awe and in despising. Moreover many theologians have ignored and contemplated positively and negatively on his discovery. Nevertheless, it is impossible to favor Darwin and his natural selection theory when the creation itself is so complex that it demands a creator. But when it comes to Philosophers and theologians, many have stated that God and religion solely have a role to play in the creation of this universe and its beings. Let us look at Paley, Gregory, Dennett, Dawes and Kitcher we can see that they are against and in favor sometimes to the Darwin’s theory. Darwin proclaims that human beings have evolved from Apes. This is not acceptable for many of the philosophers who deeply believe in God and his creative power. Here we get to understand and analyze the theory of other thinkers with that of the Darwin. However Darwin has propagated his idea and thoughts in such a meaningful way that many thinkers and philosophers had to agree with his theology .Still nature is so complex and human intelligence is so shockingly exquisite, the creator needs to be in backstage to maintain this universe. Paley’s Theology and Darwin’s Theory Paley is a thinker who has attempted to establish God’s existence throughout his theology. According to him if a person finds a stone on the road, he would not think twice, but if it is a watch then one would think of the creator of the watch. Why is that people never thinking about the creator of the stone? He is attempting to prove to people that nothing comes into existence accidentally. Here Paley is out rightly ignoring the “ The natural selection” theory of Darwin. Paley is not only claiming the existence of God but he is further tries to describe some attributes of God.Paley points out to people the complex design of various animal species itself is a strong evidence of the existence and power of God. Darwin is of the opinion that mutations in the gene of Chimpanzee along the years have given rise to Homo sapiens. His theory of evolution is sensible, but if the animal species are evolved to form human beings why does those animal species till exist. Moreover, what is the reason for human not further more evolving? Human has been the same for thousands of years. Here comes in the scenario. ‘God’ who is a supreme being who creates, preserve and destructs his creation. Paley is right in mentioning that there is a creator behind stone just like a watch. In Universe nothing happens on accident, everything has a reason. It is strongly unreasonable to assume that animals changed shape and form randomly due to natural selection. Platinga and Darwin Theory Platinga is a theologian who supported Christianity and the existence of God as a ‘creator of universe’. He is against ‘naturalism’ and claims that if existence is due to mutation and nature’s selection of the best animal attribute, then our cognitive and physical senses would have been completely reliable. With these statements Platinga is going against the theory of evolution and Charles Darwin.Platinga is a believer of God and his opinion is that one does not need proof to believe in God. He stated that the existence of God is manifested to the physical senses without any evidential proof. Here Plantinga puts forward an evolutionary argument against the theory of naturalism of Darwin. The Darwin naturalism theory has no ground for supernatural processes and God.Plantinga suggests that if naturalism and evolution are true then there is a meager or low chance of the existence of reliable cognitive faculty. Gregory Dawes and Darwin Theory Dawes is a believer of God and asserts that all beings are created by a super being. On the contrary Darwin does not believe in the universal existence of God, as a spirit who is omnipresent and omnipotent. Darwin believes solely in science and religion is no- -where evident in his theology. If the naturalism is a fact, then there is no need of a religion. According to Dawes, a Darwinian cannot be a Christian as they don’t have faith in God. At times we can see that some Darwinians are Christians and the reason for this can be less understandable. However, a Darwinian has no right to be religious as a religion demand an existence of God. Darwin’s Evolution Theory and its Relation to Science and Religion Darwin is a well known scientist and his analyzing, observational and examining ability has led to the formulation of naturalism and evolution theory. According to him, human beings have a common ancestor and we evolved according to natural selection and by the surviving ability of each living being. In this manner, Darwin is strongly connected to science and the idea of biological order. He suggests that human being evolved from ape due to gene mutation which is hard to believe. Though the biological evolution is true, the creator of our common ancestor is God. It is a fact that something comes from something and that something’s created by a superior being who is omnipotent and omnipresent. This aspect is not elaborated by Darwin, if a tiniest of creation has to exist then there definitely needs a creator of that being. Darwin overlooks arguments on the ‘creator of the universe’, when it is the question of religion. A person who believes strongly in science and establishes a biological disorder for the human origination cannot hold on to religion and God. He disregards God for the creation of the world is a genuine factor to alienate him from religious beliefs and God. Darwin believes that the universal creation in cyclic manner is a unitary process and there is no dualistic aspect to it. Science has no relationship with religion as the latter starts and ends with God and the former has no God in their theories. So, Darwin has no religious ground but solely put his faith and belief in nature and scientific theories. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion Essay”, n.d.)
The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1447032-philosophy-of-science-and-religion
(The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion Essay)
The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion Essay. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1447032-philosophy-of-science-and-religion.
“The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1447032-philosophy-of-science-and-religion.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Darwin Natural Selection and Its Relation to Science and Religion

Charles Darwin's Work according to Popper, Kuhn and Van Fraassen

This paper will explore the views of Popper, Kuhn, and Van in relation to Charles Darwin work on evolution.... For instance, the survival of species based on how fit they are, in relation to conformation to changes in environment does not contain any bit of science because no species can survive if it is weak.... Popper's perspective of science in relation to Darwin theory appears in four steps; first problem selection, second creation of hypothesis in relation to problem solution, third is to test the theory presented, and lastly develop an argument about the result....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

The Myth of Conflict Between Science and Religion

Newton's arguments have been used by many scientists in their works and have been some of the greatest causes of the conflict between science and religion.... Generally, science is understood as the study of empirically observable things in the world, while religion entails mainly to what is unobservable and immaterial and they cannot be detected by senses.... hellip; Generally, science is understood as the study of empirically observable things in the world, while religion entails mainly to what is unobservable and immaterial and they cannot be detected by senses (Harrison, 2010)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Buddhist and Christian Views on Evolution

As such, naturalistic proposals such as the evolution theory serve to belittle divine action thus fuel conflict between science and the Christian faith.... On the hand, the scientific community readily accepts the theory of natural selection in which Darwin believed that all species had a common ancestor, but evolved to survive due to the process of natural selection.... Organisms that fail to adapt to their habitat do not prevail under the new environmental conditions and hence, cannot survive, which explains natural selection where only the strong and mighty thrive effectively....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

The Darwinian controversy of the nineteenth century

It should be mentioned that the most controversial issue of that time was the problem of science and religion.... It should be mentioned that the most controversial issue of that time was the problem of science and religion.... o, it is obvious that the problem of science and religion is still of current importance and it is really difficult to define where the truth is.... The transmutation of species was accepted by many scientists before 1859, but the publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species by Means of natural selection provided the first cogent theory for a mechanism by which evolutionary change could occur: natural selection....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Darwin, The Final Nail In The Coffin For Newtonian Religion

Thus, Darwin had reopened the age-old debate between science and religion—something that was thought to be reconciled once upon a time through the practice of natural theology, wherein Sir Isaac Newton was a proponent and believer.... Hence, there is a need to look back and trace where the argument came from in order to come to a conclusion on whether science and religion can coalesce and form a common ground in the form of natural theology.... nbsp; The major premise lies in Darwin's Mechanism of Random Mutation and natural selection and his explanation of Secondary Causes, wherein he disproves the notions of Creation and Design....
9 Pages (2250 words) Thesis

Charles Darwins Contribution to the Field of Psychology

Various works of his discussed the mechanism of inheritance and made observations on sexual selection.... Notably also, his grandfather- asmus Darwin, was a physician and poet with a liking to natural philosophy where his patients were from affluent backgrounds one of them being Josiah Wedgewood.... Erasmus Darwin put forward a natural explanation for the origin and development of life where in his book Zoonomia, published in 1974, he looked into the domestication of animals, cross-fertilization of plants along with movement of climbing plants....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Myth of Conflict between Science and Religion

This paper ''The Myth of Conflict between science and religion'' discusses how the history of religion and science has been in a state of constant conflict as argued by Ronald Numbers.... Newton's arguments have been used by many scientists in their works and have been some of the greatest causes of the conflict between science and religion.... hellip; Conflict seems to be the most common interaction between religion and science.... Their conflict seems to emanate from what they rely on for their respective beliefs; religion relies on authority of supernatural being and truth that is supposed to be eternal and universal, while science relies on authority whose source is reasoning and evidence that are subject to challenge....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Evolution of Ape and Man

The 'Origin of Species' offered an explanation on the natural selection featuring the 'survival of the fittest' which claimed to be the engine and cornerstone of Modern Biology.... natural selection in the context of Darwin's framework is described to be the “revolutionary change that comes through the production of variation in each generation and differential survival of individuals with different combinations of these variable characters” (Montgomery, S....
9 Pages (2250 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us