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Sat 23 May, 2015 09:11 pm
Context:
Elsewhere, Ward gives evidence of the difficulty the theological
mind has in grasping where the complexity of life comes from. He
quotes another theologian-scientist, the biochemist Arthur
Peacocke (the third member of my trio of British religious
scientists), as postulating the existence in living matter of a
'propensity for increased complexity'. Ward characterizes this as
'some inherent weighting of evolutionary change which favours
complexity'. He goes on to suggest that such a bias 'might be some
weighting of the mutational process, to ensure that more complex
mutations occurred'. Ward is sceptical of this, as well he should be.
The evolutionary drive towards complexity comes, in those lineages
where it comes at all, not from any inherent propensity for
increased complexity, and not from biased mutation. It comes from
natural selection: the process which, as far as we know, is the only
@FBM,
Thanks.
BTW, why would Richard Dawkins have said "
my trio of British religious scientists" but not just "the trio of..."? Because Dawkins is a world-renowned atheist, he'd in no way join the rank of theists.
@oristarA,
He probably means his
example of three British religious scientists. The three he chose to refer to. Seeing as how there are more than three of them, he picked out the ones he wanted to talk about. Someone else could choose others.
@oristarA,
Quote:Dawkins is a world-renowned atheist, he'd in no way join the rank of theists.
If he joined them, it would be a quartet! A trio is a group of three people or things. He is saying that the trio is "his", i.e. belongs to him (in the sense that he chose to quote them) not that he belongs to the trio. "My trio of British religious scientists" is more compact and less cumbersome than "The three British religious scientists from whom I have chosen to quote"
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