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Is the Universe Designed? Yes and No
Author(s) -
GRIFFIN DAVID RAY
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb02138.x
Subject(s) - theism , blueprint , creationism , perspective (graphical) , epistemology , nothing , philosophy , universe , cosmic cancer database , computer science , physics , astronomy , artificial intelligence , engineering , mechanical engineering
A bstract : Addressing the title's question from the perspective of Whitehead's process theology, fourteen basic notions of which are explained, I argue that the universe is not designed in six common senses of that notion: It was not created out of nothing, all at once, through punctuated creationism, from a blueprint, solely for humans, or even with humans specifically in mind. But it is designed in two looser senses of the term: It reflects a divine aim at richness of experience, and it involved a divine establishment of this cosmic epoch's fundamental contingent principles—an idea that is consistent with process theism's view of divine power as purely persuasive.