Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 480 pages
• Published by: W. W. Norton January 7, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0393330737
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0393330731
• Book Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 12.8 ounces

Product Description
From leading scientists, lawyers, and educators-a decisive rebuttal to those who undermine science in the name of religion.

In a time when creationist textbooks continue to appear in classrooms and the president of the United States encourages educators to "teach both sides" of the argument, Scientists Confront Creationism presents an accessible defense of evolution and a blueprint to save public education in this country from the dangers of pseudoscience. With sixteen essays from some of the most important advocates in the field, including Kevin Padian, John R. Cole, and Wesley R. Elsberry, Scientists Confront Creationism reveals the persuasive evidence for evolution and the bankruptcy of the creationists' claims. While telling the history of creationism in America, this powerful collection eviscerates "intelligent design" and reveals the newest tactics taken by antievolutionist proponents. As long as science requires public advocacy, this highly intelligent treasury of scholarship will remain an essential resource for students, teachers, and open-minded citizens. 12 illustrations.

About The Author
Andrew J. Petto is the editor of Reports of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, and a lecturer in anatomy and physiology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He lives in Wisconsin. Laurie R. Godfrey is a professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She lives in Massachusetts.

Reader Reviews
This review was written after reading the hardcover edition - pick up the paperback now that it is available! Fervent fundamentalist religious groups (Jewish, Christian, or Islamic), have exhibited chronic allergies to science ever since Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" convincingly presented his theory of evolution by natural selection. Unweaving rainbows could be tolerated - but dismantling cherished creation myths spawned an array of pseudoscientific hives and rashes ranging from 'creation science' to 'Intelligent Design.' Faith-based resistance to evolution - a theory supported by an overwhelming and extraordinary consilience of scientific evidence - has deleteriously impacted everything from separation of church and state to economic competitiveness as science, and science education, became essential prerequisites for information age economies and political systems. "Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism" thoroughly and convincingly deconstructs the all dog, no pony, creationist and ID sideshow with sixteen essays by prominent scientists, historians, and educators. PART ONE focuses on the origins of 'scientific creationism' and 'Intelligent Design.' Ronald L. Numbers unmasks the shell-game strategies employed by creationists attempting to substitute religious dogma for science in American classrooms. Shortly after the Supreme Court rejected 'scientific creationism' in the 1987 Edwards v. Aguillard ruling 'Intelligent Design,' chronicled by Eugenie C. Scott, whelped into view. Sired by an unremarkable claque of born again lawyers, underachieving academics, and a Moonie; 'Intelligent Design' was accompanied by a strident but content-free PR initiative from The Discovery Institute for the Renewal of Science and Culture. John R. Cole closes this section by documenting the conceit that led backers of 'Intelligent Design' to their own Golgotha in Kitzmiller v. Dover in 2005. PART TWO includes essays by Victor J. Stegner, G. Brent Dalrymple, and Antonia Lazcano that roast creationist chestnuts ranging from 'The Second Law of Thermodynamics makes evolution or the natural origin of life impossible' (it doesn't, in fact non-equilibrium thermodynamics underlies a variety of physical and chemical processes that allowed life to develop and evolve on earth); to the age of the earth itself - an incontrovertible 4.54 billion years old. Despite all available scientific evidence, Young Earth Creationists (YECs) continue to insist that earth and the cosmos are only 6,000 to 10,000 years old - only off by factors of 750,000 for the earth and more than 2,000,000 for the universe! Other PART TWO highlights pair Kevin Padian's and Kenneth D. Angielczyk's paper on how creationists duplicitously deny transitional forms with Robert Dorit's insights on biological complexity - flagellating Michael Behe's clumsy implementation of 'irreducible complexity.' Wesley R. Elsberry succinctly reveals the statistical slight-of-hand inherent in William Dembski's 'Design Inference.' The pretentious pseudomathematics genre was invented by Dembski and Elsberry's denouement is a fitting coup de grace. A summary of Human evolution by C. Loring Brace closes out this segment. PART THREE pits Robert T. Pennock against an addled Dembski on philosophical and methodological grounds. His summarization is priceless: "In other words, Dembski's argument works like this: If you cannot think of a way for natural regularities and/or chance to explain something, they say that a 'designer' did it. Dembski's 'design inference' is nothing more than a formalization of a simple god-of-the gaps argument. It is the standard argument from ignorance put in the form of a flow chart." Game, set, and match to Pennock. J. Michael Plavcan explores how the concept of cognitive dissonance compels creationists to leap from the same conceptual cliffs over and over again with lemming-like disregard for the consequences. This model of how 'creation scientists' regurgitate fallacious arguments in the face of repeated and authoritative rebuttals is my favorite essay. If you want to know how Henry Morris, Duane Gish and Ken Ham (among others) manage to get everything exactly wrong read this chapter first and then enjoy the rest of the book. Editors Andrew J. Petto and Laurie R. Godfrey worked with the essayists to weave numerous threads into a coherent and compelling tapestry that successfully champions sense over nonsense. If you cherish reason and prefer a reality-based worldview to faith-based voodoo, you will treasure this book. Also try Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism by Robert T. Pennock, Unintelligent Design by Mark Perkah, The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition by Ronald L. Numbers, or Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design by Barbara Forrest.