Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

by Stephen C. Meyer

Consider, by way of illustration, a case in which we know a true history of ancestor–descendant relationships to see how evidence can converge around a single (unequivocal) history. Between 1839 and 1856, Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma, produced ten children, listed below in alphabetical order: Anne Charles Elizabeth Francis George Henrietta Horace Leonard Mary William This alphabetical listing, of course, is not their actual birth order. Instead, it is one of a large number of possible birth orders for Darwin’s children, only one of which is the correct sequence. Indeed, only one of these arrangements can represent the actual Darwin family history. Now, suppose I gave you and some friends a pile of historical evidence about Darwin’s children, and asked you to “solve for their birth order.” No one would consider the problem solved if you came back with more than one order. On the other hand, if you came back and presented a single coherent hypothesis of the birth order supported by evidence from birth records, family letters, and photographs from the Darwin family archives, that would provide persuasive evidence that you had obtained the correct solution. Since only one true history exists, once you find it the evidence will tend to fall naturally into place.