Darwinian Revolution

• Charles Darwin


  (1) he published “The Origin of Species” in 1859.

  (2) he accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve and discovered the process, natural selection, by which they evolve.

  (3) he completed the Copernican revolution by drawing out for biology the notion of nature as a lawful system of matter in motion.
• Supernatural


  Supernatural explanations, depending on the unfathomable deeds of the Creator, accounted for the origin and configuration of living creatures—the most diversified, complex, and interesting realities of the world. It was Darwin's genius to resolve this conceptual schizophrenia.
• William Paley in his Natural Theology (1802)


  in his work Natural Theology, argued that, as science uncovered more and more complexity in nature and natural systems, the complexity of nature was evidence for the existence of God. His watchmaker analogy is referenced, criticized, and cited even today
• The functional design of the human eye


  (1) It is consisted of a series of transparent lenses.

  (2) There is a black cloth or canvas spread out behind these lenses so as to receive the image formed by pencils of light transmitted through them, and placed at the precise geometrical distance at which, and at which alone, a distinct image could be formed.

  (3) a large nerve communicating between this membrane and the brain.
• The Bridgewater Treatises


  are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the Royal Society in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, for work on "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested.
• The eight works of the Bridgewater Treatises


  • The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man (1833), by Thomas Chalmers, D.D.
  • On The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man (1833), by John Kidd, M.D.
  • Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology (1833),by William Whewell, D.D.
  • The hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design (1833), by Sir Charles Bell.
  • Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to Natural Theology (1834), by Peter Mark Roget.
  • Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology (1836), by William Buckland, D.D.
  • On the History, Habits and Instincts of Animals (1835), by William Kirby.
  • Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology (1834), by William Prout, M.D.