Abstract

Recent scientific and philosophical investigations have re-opened the question of the adequacy of a non-teleological view of nature. This essay examines the puzzling status of humanity itself within nature, the vexed question of whether the Darwinian principle of evolution through chance mutation, combined with natural selection, can account for what we know of biological life, and the extraordinary implausibility of any nonteleological explanation of the origins of life. The central issue is what can be accomplished by chance mutation and natural selection. The greatest mystery of all is the origin of life itself. The probabilities of life appearing by chance are so infinitesimal that some conclude that life could not have originated on earth. The biological world as we know it still appears to require prodigies of miracle.