Misplaced Pages

Uncommon Dissent

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tim Smith (talk | contribs) at 06:46, 15 January 2007 (reorganized for flow; added cover image and Evolution section; split out Reception section; removed/reworked some claims for factuality and verifiability; clarified that contributors are CSC fellows). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 06:46, 15 January 2007 by Tim Smith (talk | contribs) (reorganized for flow; added cover image and Evolution section; split out Reception section; removed/reworked some claims for factuality and verifiability; clarified that contributors are CSC fellows)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing is a 2004 anthology edited by William Dembski in which fifteen intellectuals, among them leading intelligent design proponents and of whom eight are fellows or advisors of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC), considered the hub of the intelligent design movement, criticise "Darwinism". It is published by the publishing wing of the paleoconservative Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The foreword is by John Wilson, editor of the evangelical Christian magazine Christianity Today. The title is a pun on the principle of biology known as common descent.

Contributors

The fifteen "dissenting intellectuals" are:

Although at least three of the contributors work in biology-related fields, none is a professional biologist.

Topics addressed

The book contains four sections: Part I: A Crisis of Confidence; Part II: Darwinism's Cultural Inroads; Part III: Leaving the Darwinian Fold; and Part IV: Auditing the Books. Part I, consisting of three essays, offers opinions on why Darwinism is questioned by the public at large. Part II, consisting of four essays, discusses the authors' opinions on the effects Darwinism has had on society and culture. Part III, consisting of three essays, deals with the personal intellectual journeys of contributors Behe, Denton, and Barham, whose attitudes toward Darwinism have changed through their lives. Part IV, consisting of four essays, presents the authors' opinions on the consistency and scope of Darwinism.

Surrounding controversy

"Darwinism" is a term for the underlying theory in those ideas of Charles Darwin concerning evolution and natural selection, and can refer to evolution by natural selection, to evolution more broadly, or to other ideas not directly associated with the work of Darwin. Evolution has broad acceptance within the scientific community, and that community rejects intelligent design, with critics saying that design proponents seek to destroy evolution and that they employ intentional ambiguity in using "Darwinism" synonymously with evolution without knowing much about evolutionary biology.

"Darwinism"

The book's introduction characterizes Darwinism by the central claim that "an unguided physical process can account for the emergence of all biological complexity and diversity".

Contributor James Barham argues that "it is incorrect to simply equate Darwinism with belief in evolution." He distinguishes empirical Darwinism ("the idea that the formation of new species is due to random changes in individual organisms that happen to be 'selected' by the environment") from metaphysical Darwinism (the claim that "the theory of natural selection has successfully reduced all teleological and normative phenomena to the interplay of chance and necessity, thus eliminating purpose and value from our picture of the world"). For Barham, the "real problem with the evolution debate" is not empirical Darwinism, but a sort of "theory creep" in which a "bold but circumscribed scientific claim" (empirical Darwinism) becomes conflated with "a much more sweeping philosophical claim" (metaphysical Darwinism).

Evolution

Robert C. Koons writes in Uncommon Dissent that "if evolution is defined broadly enough, there's little doubt that it has occurred." He sees the "defining differential element" of the modern synthesis as the view that "the probability of the occurrence of any mutation is unrelated to its prospective contribution to the functionality of any structure, present or future", and argues that "the natural presumption about the cause of life" lies against this view, and instead with a teleological "intelligent agency position".

Contributor Edward Sisson sees the key question in the debate over biological evolution as whether all life is "the result of chance events occurring in DNA (or perhaps elsewhere) that are then 'selected' in some fashion without the need of any guiding intelligence", thereby undergoing "unintelligent evolution", or whether at least some of the diversity of life on earth can be explained only through "intelligent evolution", in which "an intelligent designer (or designers)" causes preexisting species to undergo designed changes in DNA. His view is that "no data has been found that amounts to real evidence for unintelligent evolution as the explanation for the diversity of life", that "science is ignorant of how the diversity of life came to be", and that "an intelligent cause is necessary to explain at least some of the diversity of life as we see it".

Reception

In a 2004 review, the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture described Uncommon Dissent as "a summary of the widespread attack upon Darwinism by some of today’s leading intellectuals."

In her expert witness report for the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, Barbara Forrest cited Nancy R. Pearcey's writings in Uncommon Dissent as evidence of the religious nature of intelligent design.

References

  1. Fellows, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute.
  2. Defending science education against intelligent design: a call to action Journal of Clinical Investigation 116:1134-1138 (2006). doi:10.1172/JCI28449. A publication of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
  3. National Association of Biology Teachers Statement on Teaching Evolution
  4. IAP Statement on the Teaching of Evolution Joint statement issued by the national science academies of 67 countries, including the United Kingdom's Royal Society (PDF file)
  5. From the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society: 2006 Statement on the Teaching of Evolution (PDF file), AAAS Denounces Anti-Evolution Laws
  6. "Before discussing Defendants’ claims about evolution, we initially note that an overwhelming number of scientists, as reflected by every scientific association that has spoken on the matter, have rejected the ID proponents’ challenge to evolution." Kitzmiller v. Dover page 83
  7. "As I stated earlier, Johnson, Dembski, and their associates have assumed the task of destroying 'Darwinism,' 'evolutionary naturalism,' 'scientific materialism,' 'methodological naturalism,' 'philosophical naturalism,' and other 'isms' they use as synonyms for evolution." Barbara Forrest’s Letter to Simon Blackburn Barbara Forrest. March 2000. Quoted in Rebuttal to Reports by Opposing Expert Witnesses William A. Dembski. May 14 2005
  8. "In his latest Commentary essay on 'Darwinism' - as it is often called by those who do not know much evolutionary biology..." Darwinism Versus Intelligent Design Paul Gross. Commentary Magazine, Vol. 115, March 2003, No. 3
  9. Dembski, Uncommon Dissent, p. xx.
  10. Barham, Uncommon Dissent, pp. 177–8.
  11. Koons, Uncommon Dissent, pp. 4, 17.
  12. Sisson, Uncommon Dissent, pp. 75–76, 84.
  13. Uncommon Dissent, Intellectuals who find Darwinism Unconvincing Center for Science and Culture, June 1 2004.
  14. Expert Witness Report Barbara Forrest, April 1, 2005, page 28.

External links

Categories: