In her column of Oct. 23, Globe Editor Carol Stark mentioned the Chinese concept of the conflict between the yin and the yang producing harmony in the world. This is echoed in the Hegelian dialectic.
The idea that conflict produces results is found in astronomy, where the tendency of the moon to move in a straight line is countered by the gravitational pull of the Earth, producing the moon’s orbit around the Earth. In biology, the tendency for a human to reproduce itself is countered by the same tendency in its mate, resulting in diverse offspring. In history, the conflict between Christianity and Islam resulted in the discovery of America.
My point is that the laws we discover (or postulate) in physics are instances of wider laws that apply in all areas of existence. Therefore, to ban the teaching of intelligent design is to place legal blinders on the mind.
To quote one of the many observations that made Shakespeare great: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Donald E. Corder
Baxter Springs, Kan.
