Abstract
It is often held that the argument from biological design (ABD) was valid and almost universally accepted before Darwin, that it was the most important rational ground for theism, and that it was invalidated by Darwinism. However, this is wrong. The history of the ABD ran parallel with those of evolutionary theories, with Lamarck having published in 1801 and Paley in 1802. Evolutionary theories and the ABD were alternative responses to empirical evidence that (1) spontaneous generation does not occur, and (2) new species have arisen in geological history. The main reason why evolution was seldom hypothesized before 1796 was probably that materialism was tenable otherwise.