Chapter II: Philosophy of Design

"It is an assured truth, and a conclusion of experience, that a little or superficial knowledge of Philosophy may incline the mind of Man to Atheism, but a farther proceeding therein doth bring the mind back again to Religion: for in the entrance of Philosophy, when the second causes, which are next unto the senses, do offer themselves to the mind of man, if it dwell and stay there it may induce some oblivion of the highest Cause; but when a man passeth on farther, and seeth the dependence of causes and the works of Providence; then, according to the allegory of the poets, he will easily believe that the highest link of Nature's chain must needs be tied to the foot of _Jupiter's_ chair."

_Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning,_ Book I.

"Deus sine dominio, providentiâ, et causis finalibus nihil aliud est quam fatum et natura. A cæcâ necessitate metaphysicâ, quæ eadem est et semper et ubique, nulla oritur variatio. Tota rerum conditarum pro locis ac temporibus diversitas, ab ideis et voluntate entis necessario existentis solummodo oriri potuit."--_Sir Isaac Newton, Scholium at close of Principia._

"Tax not my sloth that I
Fold my arms beside the brook;
Each cloud that floated in the sky
Writes a letter in my book.

"There was never mystery
But 'tis figured in the flowers;
Was never secret history
But birds tell it in the bowers."

_Emerson's Poems.--The Apology._

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER II.

This Chapter enters upon an examination of the kind of reasoning involved in the Argument from Design, and an inquiry into its special force. These investigations are accompanied by illustrative examples of Analogy in different shapes. The most powerful objections against this argument, and the various modes of stating it, are then described and criticised.

A re-statement of the whole line of thought is followed by the outline of a proposed method for the constructive science of Natural Theology.

The Chapter closes with a corollary on Efficient and Final Causes.

_Analysis_--Argument from Design--Its Popular Form, and the Popular
Objections raised against it--Art and Nature dissimilar--Organic
and Inorganic Worlds, their Unlikeness and their Likenesses--Difference
between Similitude and Analogy, whether the latter be Illustrative
or Illative, and easiest ways of stating both Analogies.

Scientific Difficulties--Charge of proving too much--Anthropomorphism
and Dualism--Physical and Moral Antithesis--Was Paley to blame
for introducing these Questions?--Answer to the charge of proving
too much--On how many points need Analogy rest?--Examples.

Charge of proving too little--Design assumes Designer as a Foregone
Conclusion--Process observed is test of Designer in Art, but fails in
Nature--Criticism on these Objections.

Baden Powell compared with Paley--Wide Views and Inductions--Argument
analysed into _Gradations_ of Proof, Order, and Intelligence--Means,
Ends, and Foresight--Physical and Moral Causation--Argument
analysed into various _Lines_ of Proof--Their Separate and
Consilient Force.

Value of Powell's views on Causation--Objections against some
peculiarities of his language--Natural Theology and Natural Religion
distinguished--Professor Newman--Use of Words on subject of Design.

Statement of the Constructive Method now to be employed--Corollary
on Efficient and Final Causes.

_Additional Notes and Illustrations_:--

A.--On the abstract reasonings involved in Natural Theology.
B.--On the phrase "Design implies a Designer."
C.--Hume on the analogies of Art and Nature.
D.--The Pantheistic consequences charged upon Physical Speculation.
E.--The extent and divisions of the Science of Natural Theology.
F.--On Teleology.