Religion and Science
2. The Views of Bertrand Russell
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the influence of environment is what has led
him to accept the religion in question. It is
true that Scholastics invented what professed
to be logical arguments proving the existence
of God, and that these arguments, or others of
a similar tenor, have been accepted by many
eminent philosophers, but the logic to which
these traditional arguments appealed is of an
antiquated Aristotelian sort which is now
rejected by practically all logicians except
such as are Catholics. There is one of these
arguments, which is not purely logical; I mean
the argument from design. This argument,
however, was destroyed by Darwin; and, in
any case could only be made logically
respectable at the cost of abandoning God’s
omnipotence” (p. 9).
The most important point here is that Russell has
considered the argument from design as being
valid. But while accepting this in principle, Russell
says that Darwinism has altogether destroyed its
logical position or, at least, has lessened its
importance to a considerable degree.
