An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory (Wipf and Stock, 2023 – forthcoming)
After a substantial author’s Preface woven around the author’s personal journey with the question of design in nature, An Informed Cosmos presents a series of essays that jointly defend the core case for a scientific theory of intelligent design. Together with a foreword by noted philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer (author of Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt), and extensive recommended resources, An Informed Cosmos offers an informed overview of the contemporary case for intelligent design.
Praise for An Informed Cosmos
“Peter S. Williams has done tremendous work compressing the most recent and relevant research and literature on ID into one single volume. Come to the text with an open mind, and you will enjoy it. This is science promotion on a hot topic in a brilliant way, and I am happy to recommend it.” – Steinar Thorvaldsen, Professor of Information Science, The Arctic University of Norway.
“When faced with an idea they don’t like, even the smartest scientists and philosophers can resort to verbal tap dancing to avoid unwelcome conclusions. Peter S. Williams does a thorough job demonstrating the inconsistencies, circumlocutions, and question-begging of top materialist thinkers as they try to wriggle free of the overpowering evidence for the intelligent design of life.” – Michael J. Behe, Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University, and author of Darwin’s Black Box.
“Peter Williams provides a rich ‘lode’ of insights challenging the popular dogma that the living world is entirely the product of mindless, motiveless matter. Can life’s drama in all its staggering complexity and purposefulness be accounted for by the action of unthinking natural processes? Or does it bear the imprint of a transcendent, designing Mind? Williams’ compilation of papers points the reader persuasively to the latter.” – Neil Broom, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland, and author of How Blind is the Watchmaker?
“Peter Williams’s An Informed Cosmos is a delightful, intellectually stimulating appraisal of the pervasive design inference in the reasoning of proponents and opponents of Intelligent Design. He masterfully unmasks the ontological add-ons of naturalism and exposes fallacies which have rendered the impoverished worldview associated with ontological naturalism. I wholeheartedly recommend this work for its insightful analysis and rigorous exposé.” – Frederik van Niekerk, Professor in the Unit for Energy and Technology Systems, Faculty of Engineering, North-West University, South Africa.
“Beautifully illustrated, pervasively researched, and clearly written, Peter Williams’s An Informed Cosmos is a delightful read chock full of rich, sophisticated ideas. I don’t know how Williams did it, but he managed to pack a lot of well-selected content into a short, readable book. This is not just another book on science, religion, and Intelligent Design. This book is unique in its unwavering commitment to staying within its specific focus and its up-to-date perspective. Of special value is Williams’s excellent critique of Methodological Naturalism, including its inability to explain a host of scientific discoveries in recent decades. Williams also included hard-hitting critiques of the most important critics of the Design Inference. Anyone who wants to stay on top of the debate should read this book.” – J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Biola University, and author of Scientism and Secularism.
Contents
Foreword by Stephen C. Meyer
An Informative Preface
Chapter One: The Design Inference from Specified Complexity Defended by Scholars Outside the Intelligent Design Movement – A Critical Review
Chapter Two: Atheists Against Darwinism: Johnson’s “Wedge” Breaks Through
Chapter Three: Intelligent Designs on Science: A Surreply to Denis Alexander’s Critique of Intelligent Design Theory
Appendix I: Critiquing Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins on God and Evolution
Appendix II: Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thinking about the Design Hypothesis
Recommended Resources
Bibliography
Watch
YouTube Playlist, “Introduction to Intelligent Design”
YouTube Playlist, “Debating Intelligent Design Theory”
YouTube Playlist, “Intelligent Design”