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Full Idea
The idea of a designed universe has not been utterly irrelevant to the scientific project; it is one of the beliefs that can give a scientist the faith that there are laws, waiting to be discovered, that govern all phenomena.
Gist of Idea
Science has been partly motivated by the belief that the universe is run by God's laws
Source
Peter Alexander (Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles [1985], 03.3)
Book Ref
Alexander,Peter: 'Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles' [CUP 1985], p.68
A Reaction
Of course if you start out looking for the 'laws of God' that is probably what you will discover. Natural selection strikes me as significant, because it shows no sign of being a procedure appropriate to a benevolent god.
| 631 | For Anaxagoras the Good Mind has no opposite, and causes all movement, for a higher reason [Anaxagoras, by Aristotle] |
| 5995 | Diogenes of Apollonia offered the first teleological account of cosmology [Diogenes of Apollonia, by Robinson,TM] |
| 275 | Creation is not for you; you exist for the sake of creation [Plato] |
| 394 | An unworn sandal is in vain, but nothing in nature is in vain [Aristotle] |
| 396 | There has to be some goal, and not just movement to infinity [Aristotle] |
| 626 | Everything is arranged around a single purpose [Aristotle] |
| 5089 | Nature has purpose, and aims at what is better. Is it coincidence that crops grow when it rains? [Aristotle] |
| 2809 | If nature makes everything for a purpose, then plants and animals must have been made for man [Aristotle] |
| 20812 | Covers are for shields, and sheaths for swords; likewise, all in the cosmos is for some other thing [Chrysippus] |
| 23349 | Asses are born to carry human burdens, not as ends in themselves [Epictetus] |
| 2280 | Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes [Descartes] |
| 23040 | If something develops, its true nature is embodied in its end [Green,TH] |
| 15963 | Science has been partly motivated by the belief that the universe is run by God's laws [Alexander,P] |