Neo-Darwinist theory of evolution, Intelligent Design and Creation. In dialogue with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

Abstract

Despite its incompleteness and many unsolved problems, the Neo-Darwinist theory of evolution is at present the most plausible scientific explanation of the evolution of live. Philosophically, this theory is compatible with the Christian belief in a Divine Creator. The idea that Neo-Darwinism necessarily implies atheism and materialism is erroneous. The classical proof of the existence of God on the basis of the teleological structure of natural processes, especially in the form given to it by Thomas Aquinas, can be applied to a universe, whose biological evolution is characterized by random genetic mutation and natural selection. Whether the neo-Darwinist theory of evolution is true or in what respect it must be corrected, has to be determined solely by science and not by philosophy or theology. This is also the main reason why the so-called “intelligent design” movement is to be rejected: it mixes up in undue manner science and theology, disregards the sound “methodological materialism” of science and works with a confused concept of nature.