How Blind Is the Watchmaker: Theism or Atheism: Should Science Decide (Avebury Series in Philosophy)

The main aim of this text is to show that modern materialistic science, for all its ability to analyze in truly impressive detail the workings of the living world, remains powerless to explain the phenomenon of life itself. Drawing on a variety of examples from experience of the biological world as a practicing scientist, the author shows that the qualities of purpose, intentionality and mind suffuse almost every aspect of the living realm, yet these same qualities remain unaccounted for by science itself. He argues that scientific materialism, despite its influence in shaping today's high-tech world, actually presents a gross trivialization of that concept of life. Further, while unable of itself to provide ultimate answers to the mystery of life, this science uncovers facts which point beyond these to a transcendent, theistic dimension - or in the words of the title - to a Watchmaker who, indeed, is not blind.