UI - 95243547
AU - Blumberg MS
AU - Wasserman EA
TI - Animal mind and the argument from design.
LA - Eng
MH - Animal
MH - *Behavior, Animal
MH - *Evolution
MH - Philosophy
MH - Religion and Psychology
MH - *Social Environment
MH - Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE
PT - REVIEW
PT - REVIEW, TUTORIAL
ID - MH50701/MH/NIMH
ID - MH47313/MH/NIMH
DA - 19950519
DP - 1995 Mar
IS - 0003-066X
TA - Am Psychol
PG - 133-44
CY - UNITED STATES
IP - 3
VI - 50
JC - 41V
AA - Author
EM - 199507

AB - The argument from design has played an important role in the history of philosophy and biology. Paley, the 19th-century theologian, was struck by the bodily complexity and adaptive fit of animals to their environments; he used the argument from design to prove the existence of God. Darwin, however, provided the natural evolutionary mechanisms that eliminated the need for positing a divine creator to explain the structure of animals; he was thus able to treat the historical problem of organic evolution by providing a historical solution. Today, some students of behavior are similarly struck by the complexity of animals' actions and their adaptive fit to the environment. Like Paley, they use the argument from design, but to prove the existence of a conscious designer inside the head of the animal--the mind. This mentalistic approach suffers from many of the philosophical and empirical problems that plagued similar efforts in the past.

AD - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
RF - 70
PMID- 0007726467
EDAT- 1995/03/01 00:00
MHDA- 1995/03/01 00:00
SO - Am Psychol 1995 Mar;50(3):133-44