Cosans Chris
Department of Philosophy, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN 46805, USA.
Perspect Biol Med. 2005 Summer;48(3):362-71. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2005.0071.
Throughout the Origin of Species, Darwin contrasts his theory of natural selection with the theory that God independently created each species. This makes it seem as though the Origin offers a scientific alternative to a theological worldview. A few months after the Origin appeared, however, the eminent anatomist Richard Owen published a review that pointed out the theological assumptions of Darwin's theory. Owen worked in the tradition of rational morphology, within which one might suggest that evolution occurs by processes that are continuous with those by which life arises from matter; in contrast, Darwin rested his account of life's origins on the notion that God created one or a few life forms upon which natural selection could act. Owen argued that Darwin's reliance on God to explain the origins of life makes his version of evolution no less supernatural than the special creationist that Darwin criticizes: although Darwin limits God to one or a few acts of creation, he still relies upon God to explain life's existence.
在《物种起源》一书中，达尔文始终将他的自然选择理论与上帝独立创造每个物种的理论进行对比。这使得《物种起源》似乎为神学世界观提供了一种科学替代方案。然而，在《物种起源》出版几个月后，著名解剖学家理查德·欧文发表了一篇评论，指出了达尔文理论中的神学假设。欧文遵循理性形态学的传统，在这个传统中，有人可能会认为进化是通过与生命从物质中产生的过程连续的过程发生的；相比之下，达尔文将生命起源的解释建立在上帝创造了一种或几种自然选择可以作用其上的生命形式这一观念之上。欧文认为，达尔文依赖上帝来解释生命的起源，这使得他的进化版本与他所批评的神创论版本一样具有超自然性：尽管达尔文将上帝的创造行为限制为一次或几次，但他仍然依赖上帝来解释生命的存在。
