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The question of origins has always fascinated the human mind. From the earliest times, the existence of life has mostly been attributed to supernatural intervention. However, naturalistic models of origins based on logic and philosophy can be traced to about the fifth century BC in Greece. Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) were the philosophers that probably had the greatest impact on western thought. Their idealistic view of striving for perfection laid the foundations for a naturalistic view of origins.
Plato's idealistic views had a profound effect on biology. To him, the structure and form of organisms could be understood from their function which in turn was designed to achieve ultimate goodness and harmony imposed by an external creator.
Aristotle, the father of biology, expanded this idea to include the development of organisms and the origins of groups of organisms. To Aristotle, the adult form represented the final goal or telos, and the changes occurring during embryological development represented a striving towards the telos and is dictated by the telos.

The concepts developed by the Greek philosophers retained their influence well into the 18th century and were nurtured by prominent thinkers such as Goethe (1749-1832), who believed that the origin of each level of organism was based on a fundamental primitive plan—an archetype—from which the more complex features and organisms developed.

The conflict between Christianity and Darwinism centered largely on time and fixity of species. Ironically, Aristotle believed in the fixity of species, and Augustine (AD 345-430) had incorporated this concept into Christian thought. The European worldview in Darwin's time was that God had created unchangeable fixed species in the not-too-distant past.
Read several authors' thoughts on papal Rome's history.
This article highlights quotes from historical and Catholic sources proving the Papacy's aggressive nature.
An Italian mystic. A minister to a British king. An Augustine monk. A Swiss farmer's boy. What do these men have in common? They were used by God in powerful ways to bring about the Protestant Reformation. Enter into the lives of these ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Inspiration for these articles comes from Gideon and Hilda Hagstoz' Heroes of the Reformation