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To: rob777
"...it depends on one's definition of "evolution"..."

Exactly. And if you read through my posts, you will see that I demand that people define their terms. There are a million interpretations of the term "evolution", and "science".

And is it any wonder? When you have respected and credentialed "scientists" like Dawkins, and his fellow-traveler gad-fly Scientism evangelist, Carl Sagan out there running around equating the religion of atheism with the hard sciences, and having people who aren't even credentialed "scientists" - but instead are promoters of websites like internetinfidels.org, and other secular humanist websites, speaking at their conventions and running their PR campaigns??? For instance, THIS is laughable:

These are serious "scientists"???? LOL:

[1] Discovery Institute's "Wedge Project". Circulates Online by James Still @ Infidels.org

The so-called "scientific" qualifications of James Still:

James Still B.A., Philosophy, University of Minnesota - "...helped to build and maintain the Secular Web. ... President of the Internet Infidels from 2000 until 2002. ..Compulsively and deterministically dwells on philosophical problems and issues, ..epistemology, religion......an avid yoga practitioner ... reads widely in Eastern mysticism" , etc., etc., @ Infidels.org

[2] "The Wedge at Work": How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream by Barbara Forrest, Ph.D. @ Infidels.org

The so-called "scientific" qualifications of Barbara Forrest:

Barbara Carroll Forrest - B.A., English, Southeastern Louisiana University, 1974 - M.A., Philosophy, Louisiana State University, 1978 - Ph.D., Philosophy, Tulane University, 1988

Teaching positions:

Professor of Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University, 2002 - Present
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University, 1994-2002
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University, 1989-1994
Full-time Instructor of Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University, 1988-1989
Part-time Instructor in Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University, 1981-1988

Among her awards: "Friend of Darwin" Award, National Center for Science Education, March 1998

Conference Presentations [excerpts]:

"A Critical Philosophical Analysis of the Moral Distinction Between Active and Passive Euthanasia," Mid-South Sociological Association, Jackson, MS, November, 1978.

"Methodological Naturalism and Philosophical Naturalism: Clarifying the Connection," and "The Possibility of Meaning in Human Evolution," Science and Society Conference. Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology; Faculty of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University. St Petersburg, Russia, June 19-25, 1999.

"Methodological Naturalism and Philosophical Naturalism: Clarifying the Connection," at Science and God: A Naturalistic Examination of Cosmology, the Anthropic Principle, and Design Theories. Society of Humanist Philosophers, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, September 25-26, 1999.

Lectures/Presentations [excerpts]:

"Creation and Evolution: A Philosophical View of the Concept of Balanced Treatment." Public forum: "Evolution and Creationism in Louisiana Public Schools," SLU, March 31, 1981.

"The Influence of Darwin on 19th- and 20th-Century Culture," Dept. of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana University, April 21, 1995. ...

Journal Articles [excerpt]: "An Analysis of the Causal Interpretation of Karl Marx's Theory of History," Lamar Journal of the Humanities, Spring 1989.

...Methodological Naturalism and Philosophical Naturalism: Clarifying the Connection," Philo, Fall-Winter 2000.

"The Possibility of Meaning in Human Evolution," Zygon, December 2000.

Etc., etc., @ Infidels.org

I suggest that serious scientists distance themselves from all the people (such as those named above) who are promoted by web sites like infidels.org, AmericanHumanist.org.

25 posted on 08/09/2005 9:57:37 AM PDT by Matchett-PI (The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law overarching rulers and ruled alike)
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To: Matchett-PI
I suggest that serious scientists distance themselves from all the people (such as those named above) who are promoted by web sites like infidels.org, AmericanHumanist.org.





If this was to happen, then a lot of the controversy would go away. I do not believe that serious ID theorists have a problem with those evolutionists who do not insist that evolution is a completely random process. This is a metaphysical assumption every bit as much as the assumption of a designer. Personally, I have no problem with such assumptions, although I do consider the assumption of a designer to be more rational. Science as we know it started with the assumption that the universe is orderly and its laws could be discovered by human reason. That is a metaphysical assumption. The word science itself comes from the Latin scientia, from scient-, sciens having knowledge, from present participle of scire to know. It had broader connotations than the narrow one we give it today. I tend to be a partial to the classical approach and have no problem with using metaphysical assumptions as the basis for scientific inquiry. (As long as dogmatism does not cause one to force the evidence to fit the assumption)
30 posted on 08/09/2005 10:32:55 AM PDT by rob777
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