The Irreducible Novelty of Chemistry in Natural History.

The central metaphor of nature as a watch Ims colored the debate about natural theology silice Paley and Darwin. However. a chemical interpretation of natural history will dger because cheinical systems do not work like watches. Here. a natural history of chemical constraints proposed by R. J. P. Williams is interpreted Nirough Joseph Earley's two modes of chemical becoming" with classical realism and the philosophy Of emergence. 171is interpretation shi#s attention./)00111 a system's irreducible complexity to its irreducible novelty, focusing on its novel existence and its transcendental truth, goodness, and beauty. A view of natural history in which irreducible novelty evolves through chemistry has several advantages: it accommodates continuous change (giviiig direction to a gradual mechanism of evolution) and irreversible change (providing an importantyet limited rolejor chance rather than denying its existence oroveremphasizing its power). A chemical perspective perceives the inherent "makeability" and manifest order of the universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]