A colleague sent me this. I’d like to ask contributors to this thread to list other books published before the advent of the ID movement that, like this, were (1) non-religiously motivated and (2) regarded conventional evolutionary theory as “a fairy tale for adults.”
“A Biologist’s View,” Jean Rostand, Wm. Heinemann Ltd., 1956.
French biologist Jean Rostand–“one of the leading European biologists,”
according to the jacket of this 1956 book–hardly fits the popular stereotype
of an intelligent design activist. He writes, for example: “I am quite
incapable of taking seriously a ‘revelation’ supposedly made to our ancestors
in the remote past,” and “I believe firmly in the evolution of organic nature,”
and again “the only kind of truth I believe in is one discovered slowly and
painfully.” Yet Rostand rejects Darwinism (calling it “a fairy tale for
adults” in another reference), and writes, “a theory of evolution…must
account…for the harmony which is found in living structures. This harmony
is admittedly not perfect but it is quite sufficient to suggest the idea
of design or intention–of purpose, in fact.” Further, he says, “though
we may know nothing of the actual variations which have made evolution,
this need not stop us from making a mental picture of them…they must be
supposed to be creative and not random.” He discusses the possibility that
this “creativeness” may originate from within the living organisms
themselves, and never considers the possibility of a external designer.Because of his philosophical leanings, Rostand might (or might not)
object to the inclusion of his book in this list, but in fact he
illustrates nicely that the conclusion that the development of life
suggests design does not flow from religious preconceptions, but from the
evidence itself.