Those who have argued over the origin of ideas and of biological beings have usually agreed that form in some sense preexists its appearance in minds and bodies, though they have disputed the method and time of its imposition. Most solutions to the puzzle of how form arises, therefore, including the most recent biological dogma, have incorporated this assumption. To the extent to which this is true, they are of limited value in answering questions about origins and development. Whether it is God, a vitalistic force or the gene as nature’s agent that is the source of the design of living things and that initiates and directs the unfolding of the design thus matters little to the structure of the argument. Nor are the problems inherent in such a notion lessened by the use of a succession of metaphors, such as genetic plans, knowledge and programs, to serve these cognitive and intentional functions.