Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics': Supernatural Selection
The New York Times ^ | 14 April 2002 | JIM HOLT

Posted on 04/14/2002 12:31:25 AM PDT by sourcery

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/>

New York Times Books

The New York Times
Home
Job Market
Real Estate
Automobiles
News
International
National
Nation Challenged
Politics
Business
Technology
Science
Health
Sports
New York Region
Education
Weather
Obituaries
NYT Front Page
Corrections
Opinion
Editorials/Op-Ed
Readers' Opinions


Features
Arts
Books
- Sunday Book Review
- Best-Seller Lists
- First Chapters
- Columns
Movies
Travel
Dining & Wine
Home & Garden
Fashion & Style
New York Today
Crossword/Games
Cartoons
Magazine
Week in Review
Photos
College
Learning Network
Services
Archive
Classifieds
Theater Tickets
NYT Mobile
NYT Store
E-Cards & More
About NYTDigital
Jobs at NYTDigital
Online Media Kit
Our Advertisers
Your Profile
Your Profile
E-Mail Preferences
News Tracker
Premium Account
Site Help
Newspaper
  Home Delivery
Customer Service
Electronic Edition
Media Kit
Text Version
Tips Go to Advanced Search
Search Options divide
go to Member Center Log Out
  Welcome, sourcery
E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Format

Most E-Mailed Articles Single-Page View

 

April 14, 2002

'Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics': Supernatural Selection

By JIM HOLT

INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONISM AND ITS CRITICS
Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives.

Edited by Robert T. Pennock.
Illustrated. 805 pp. Cambridge, Mass.: A Bradford Book/The MIT Press. Cloth, $110. Paper, $45.



Topics

 Alerts
Evolution
Biology and Biochemistry
Science and Technology
Christians and Christianity
Create Your Own | Manage Alerts
Sign Up for Newsletters



In the last decade or so, creationism has grown sophisticated. Oh, the old-fashioned creationists are still around, especially in the Bible Belt. They're the ones who believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old, that God created it and all its inhabitants in six days and that fossils are a product of Noah's flood. In the early 1990's, however, a new breed of creationists appeared. These ''neo-creos,'' as they have been called, are no Dogpatch hayseeds. They have Ph.D.'s and occupy positions at some of the better universities. The case they make against Darwinism does not rest on the authority of Scripture; rather, it proceeds from premises that are scientific and philosophical, invoking esoteric ideas in molecular biology, information theory and the logic of hypothesis testing.

When the neo-creos go public -- as they did recently in a hearing before the Ohio Board of Education, which they were petitioning for equal time in the classroom with Darwinism -- they do not stake any obviously foolish claims. They concede that the earth is billions of years old, and that some evolution may have taken place once the basic biochemical structures were brought into being. What they deny is that the standard Darwinian theory, or any other ''naturalistic'' theory that confines itself to mindless, mechanical causes operating gradually over time, suffices to explain the whole of life. The biological world, they contend, is rife with evidence of intelligent design -- evidence that points with near certainty to the intervention of an Intelligent Designer.

''Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics'' is a great fat collection of essays, some three dozen in all, that examine this thesis from every imaginable angle. Its editor, the philosopher Robert T. Pennock, has himself written a book opposing the neo-creos (''Tower of Babel,'' 1999), and he admits that his selection here is stacked against them by about two to one. Yet most of the major proponents of intelligent design are represented: Phillip E. Johnson, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the father of the movement; the biochemist Michael J. Behe; the mathematician William A. Dembski; and the philosopher of logic Alvin Plantinga. They are given the chance not only to present their reasoning but also to defend it against their more prominent Darwinian critics, including the biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins and the philosophers of science Philip Kitcher and Michael Ruse. The debate ranges freely over genetics, theology, the history of science and the theory of knowledge. The rhetoric is spirited, if sometimes barely civil, and the to-and-fro of ideas can be impressive.

Before we get to the scientific arguments of the neo-creos, a word should be said about their motivation. Just what do they have against Darwinism? Unlike the old-fashioned creationists, they are not especially worried about evolution conflicting with a literal reading of Genesis. Then why can't they join with the mainstream religions, which have made their peace with Darwinism? In 1996, for example, Pope John Paul II said that the theory of evolution had been ''proved true'' and asserted its consistency with Roman Catholic doctrine. Stephen Jay Gould, though agnostic himself, salutes the wisdom of this papal pronouncement, arguing that science and religion are ''nonoverlapping magisteria.'' But the neo-creos aren't buying this. They think that belief in Darwinism and belief in God are fundamentally incompatible. Here, ironically, they are in agreement with their more radical Darwinian opponents. Both extremes concur that evolution is, in the words of Phillip Johnson, ''a purposeless and undirected process that produced mankind accidentally'' and, as such, must be at odds with the idea of a purposeful Creator.

The neo-creos are right to think that evolution is not religiously neutral. If nothing else, it undercuts what has traditionally been the most powerful argument for God's existence, the ''argument from design.'' No longer is the God hypothesis required to explain the intricate complexity of the living world. Christian intellectuals who accept Darwinism insist that evolution still leaves ample scope for a Creator-God, one who got the universe rolling in just the right way so that, by sheer chemistry and physics, beings like us would inevitably appear without further supernatural meddling. Ernan McMullin, a philosopher of science at Notre Dame who also happens to be a Catholic priest, argues that the resources of God's original creation ''were sufficient for the generation of the successive orders of complexity that make up our world.'' (Another contributor wonders whether the creationist idea of divine action hasn't been ''unduly affected by the 'special effects' industry.'') But this deistic notion of God holds little appeal for the neo-creos. They remain vexed that, as Richard Dawkins pointedly observes, ''Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.''

To regain the advantage for religion, the neo-creos have devised a two-part strategy. First, they try to establish their intelligent-design theory as the only alternative to Darwinism for explaining life. (The content of intelligent design is deliberately left vague: it can mean either creation by the designing agent or purposefully ''guided'' evolution.) Then they proceed negatively, deploying various arguments to show that Darwinian mechanisms could not possibly do the trick. The logic of this strategy is impeccable: Either Darwinism or intelligent design. Not Darwinism. Therefore, intelligent design. Armed with that conclusion, they hope to pry scientifically minded people away from a purely secular worldview.

AT the moment, there is no serious scientific rival to Darwinism. Indeed, if the explanation for the origin and complexity of life must be sought in physical mechanisms, then an evolutionary theory of some sort would seem to be inevitable. But why, the neo-creos ask, should other sorts of explanations -- those positing intelligent causes, supernatural interventions -- be ruled out by fiat? To do so betrays a commitment to ''metaphysical naturalism,'' the doctrine that nature is a system of material causes and effects sealed off from outside influences; and that, they say, is a matter of faith, not proof. But the Darwinians have a devastating retort to the charge of metaphysical naturalism: nothing succeeds like success. As Michael Ruse points out, modern science's refusal to cry miracle when faced with explanatory difficulties has yielded ''fantastic dividends.'' Letting divine causes fill in wherever naturalistic ones are hard to find is not only bad theology -- it leaves you worshiping a ''God of the gaps'' -- but it is also a science-stopper.

Besides, the evidence for Darwinism looks awfully strong. Yes, there are internal disagreements over the mechanisms and tempo of evolution. But the core thesis that all living things have a common ancestry, long supported by the pattern of structural similarities among them and by the fossil record, has received stunning new confirmation from molecular genetics. Johnson does his lawyerly best to cast doubt on the evidence for common ancestry. However, the more tough-minded of the neo-creos are willing to accept the historical claim that organisms evolved from one another. They even acknowledge a role for the standard Darwinian mechanism (natural selection operating on random variation) in the process. To make good on the second part of their strategy, the Not Darwinism part, they instead try to show that for deeper reasons Darwinism is bound to fall short of telling the whole story. They have three main arguments, all of which seem clever at first blush.

Continued
1 | 2 | Next>>



Home | Back to Books | Search | Help Back to Top


E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Format

Most E-Mailed Articles Single-Page View













Reprints & Permissions Click here to order Reprints or Permissions of this Article

to Receive 50% Off Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper.


Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information



TOPICS: Philosophy
KEYWORDS: creationism; crevolist; evolution
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200 ... 281-297 next last
To: F16Fighter
Dave Hunt is an internationally known author and lecturer who's written more than 20 books (as of 1996).

Stephen King has written far more than 20 books and you don't take him seriously, do you?

161 posted on 04/15/2002 5:53:29 AM PDT by Junior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 154 | View Replies]

To: Junior
"Stephen King has written far more than 20 books and you don't take him seriously, do you?"

I may not "take him seriously", but I DO know who he is, while noting writing twenty books or so happens to be an accomplishment NO MATTER who one is or isn't.

162 posted on 04/15/2002 6:06:38 AM PDT by F16Fighter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 161 | View Replies]

To: Junior
Reality by fiat is even less attractive.

Aren't you Roman Catholic?

163 posted on 04/15/2002 6:22:43 AM PDT by AndrewC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 144 | View Replies]

To: AndrewC
Yes.
164 posted on 04/15/2002 6:35:43 AM PDT by Junior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 163 | View Replies]

To: F16Fighter
With all due respect to your credentials (hello?) as an accomplished writer and researcher of scientific, religious, and occultist theory,

I can't vouch for or comment on the quality of any of his other writings, but the posted excerpt shows someone seriously ready for a change in medication. He actually managed to bring into his paranoia -- all at one shot -- the Greeks, evolution, the occult, mysticism, the Garden of Eden fable, Hinduism, witchcraft and reincarnation.

I've never seen that done before, and it really tastes of the "they're all out go get me" syndrome.

165 posted on 04/15/2002 7:11:33 AM PDT by Quila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 160 | View Replies]

To: F16Fighter
I may not "take him seriously", but I DO know who he is, while noting writing twenty books or so happens to be an accomplishment NO MATTER who one is or isn't.

There's a guy in Brazil who's written several hundreds of books. He is known for being able to churn out an entire, rather thick, novel overnight. The novels are completely formula, devoid of any real literary value, yet he can meet your requirement in less than a month.

BTW, Isaac Asimov wrote over 400 novels, serious and fluff fiction and serious nonfiction (his works on the Bible and Shakespeare are quite insightful and show serious research and study), and yet that doesn't make the fundies here respect him any more because of his atheism.

166 posted on 04/15/2002 7:22:28 AM PDT by Quila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 162 | View Replies]

To: Junior
Reality by fiat is even less attractive

Yes, thus my point to jennyp concerning who gets to decide what "reality" is, since we both apparently agreed that there were over 250 million "datasets"(I will assert all different) in the U.S. alone. The correct answer, in my opinion, is a personal one, and being such denies the necessity of both a committee and fiat definition.

167 posted on 04/15/2002 7:35:07 AM PDT by AndrewC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 164 | View Replies]

To: Quila
"He [Dave Hunt] manages to bring into his paranoia -- all in one shot -- the Greeks, evolution, the occult, mysticism, the Garden of Eden fable, Hinduism, witchcraft and reincarnation. I've never seen that before..."

Yeah -- impressive ain't it? ;-) If you care to check out this particular book, which also delves into the scientific, spiritual and historical dynamics of UFOs, Ghosts, Drugs (coincidently), critiques of Christian sects and their ties to the "occult", and other goodies, the book is called 'Occult Invasion'.

It is possible to be both entertained and enlightened by either Isaac Asimov OR Dave Hunt without "respecting" either one I suppose.

168 posted on 04/15/2002 7:51:45 AM PDT by F16Fighter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 165 | View Replies]

To: jennyp
Popper is, of course, correct that natural selection may be formulated in a non-tautological way. The trouble is that in the polemics between atheistic materialists who want a creation myth of their own, and theists, it never is. This is precisely why the sociology of Darwinism-as-creation-myth is an impediment to scientific progress on the issue: any particular non-tautological version may be falsified, requiring an improved version, and that process cannot be seen going on, as it will weaken the club with which materialists attack theists.

Any particular non-tautological version is a proposal for a "theory of fitness" (at least in a restricted setting), and thus exactly the kind of thing I insist is needed, and the kind of thing which, when provided in general will supply more order than will support the argument-from-no-design.

169 posted on 04/15/2002 8:22:01 AM PDT by The_Reader_David
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 126 | View Replies]

To: Junior
Reality by fiat is even less attractive.

And Panda by Fiat is even less so.

170 posted on 04/15/2002 8:44:30 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 144 | View Replies]

To: F16Fighter
Is this the "Dave Hunt" being discussed?

Dave Hunt, Leading Anti-Catholic Fundamentalist

Of course, I don't know who Aufill is either.

171 posted on 04/15/2002 8:51:11 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 154 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
ROFL ;-D
172 posted on 04/15/2002 8:56:54 AM PDT by BMCDA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 170 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
I've been waiting for Fiat jokes.
173 posted on 04/15/2002 9:02:34 AM PDT by Junior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 170 | View Replies]

To: sourcery; Jeff Gordon; Rudder
Intelligent design is not creationism.

Such is only a tie that's made by those who have an anti-intelligent design agenda.

The intelligent designer of the ID theory can as easily be an advanced race elsewhere in the universe. It does not have to be a "god."

The proposition, quite simply, is that the ID math model says there's too much complexity on earth for the allowable time in which all this complexity is supposed to have arisen.

174 posted on 04/15/2002 9:08:03 AM PDT by xzins
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
[|]CLOAKED[|] Lurking, leering ...

Just so long as you're not flashing ...

... That platypus of yours isn't pretty.

175 posted on 04/15/2002 9:09:16 AM PDT by Gumlegs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 152 | View Replies]

To: xzins
The intelligent designer of the ID theory can as easily be an advanced race elsewhere in the universe. It does not have to be a "god."

Unfortunately, ID ultimately means God. Did those advanced beings evolve naturally? If so, why couldn't life on this planet evolve naturally? If those advanced beings are supernatural, you come around again to God.

176 posted on 04/15/2002 9:21:54 AM PDT by Junior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 174 | View Replies]

To: Junior
I've been waiting for the Fiat company to introduce the Lux.
177 posted on 04/15/2002 9:22:20 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 173 | View Replies]

To: Junior
Unfortunately, ID ultimately means God. Did those advanced beings evolve naturally? If so, why couldn't life on this planet evolve naturally? If those advanced beings are supernatural, you come around again to God.

That does not follow.

It makes sense to accept that the origin of life in another part of the universe could have a more readily demonstrable explanation to which we could all say "Aha! If only I'd known about this process, then I could see how it all fit together.""

Who says earth has to be the center of the universe?

It would be like finding a research station on Antarctica and trying to force an explanation of its origin by insisting that we use only the conditions available on Antarctica.

178 posted on 04/15/2002 9:35:35 AM PDT by xzins
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 176 | View Replies]

To: jennyp
But this is another evolutionary "just-so story": if an ecological niche were occupied by 'immortal unless slain' creatures, evolutionary biologists would devise another story to show how the survival strategy of perserving individual organisms and replacing them only at a slow rate was vastly superior in the face of the survial pressures faced in that ecological niche to competing survival strategies of more prolific reproduction and short life-spans.

I am, perhaps, being a little too scornful in calling it a "just-so story". I call it this because it is claimed to be a "prediction" of a general theory--which I would argue it is not precisely because evolutionary biologists would behave as I have indicated. In fact, the account given is a proper scientific theory in its own right, which can be tested and falsified (by finding a population of slowly reproducing 'immortal unless slain' organisms), modified to account for the contrary data (provided the new modification is still testable) and so forth.

179 posted on 04/15/2002 9:45:23 AM PDT by The_Reader_David
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: Gumlegs
Just so long as you're not flashing ... That platypus of yours isn't pretty.

Is that a platypus in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?

180 posted on 04/15/2002 10:05:38 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 175 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200 ... 281-297 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson