Uncommon Dissent

infobox Book


author = William Dembski (Editor)
name = Uncommon Dissent
country = United States of America
language = English
subject = Intelligent Design
genre =
publisher = ISI Books
release_date = June 2004
media_type = Hardcover, Paperback
isbn = ISBN 1932236317
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing" is a 2004 anthology edited by William Dembski in which fifteen intellectuals, eight of whom are leading intelligent design proponents associated with the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC) [ [http://www.discovery.org/csc/fellows.php Fellows,] Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute.
•"Q. Has the Discovery Institute been a leader in the intelligent design movement? A. Yes, the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Q. And are almost all of the individuals who are involved with the intelligent design movement associated with the Discovery Institute? A. All of the leaders are, yes." Barbara Forrest, 2005, testifying in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial. [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/day6pm.html Kitzmiller Dove Testimony, Barbara Forrest]
• "The Discovery Institute is the ideological and strategic backbone behind the eruption of skirmishes over science in school districts and state capitals across the country." [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21evolve.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=3a7c120f2a6b4972&ex=1160107200 Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive] Jodi Wilgoren. The New York Times, August 21 2005.
• [http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/16371res20050916.html Who is behind the ID movement?] Frequently Asked Questions About "Intelligent Design", American Civil Liberties Union.
• "Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank established in 1991. The institute, which promotes a conservative public-policy agenda, has occupied a lead role in the ID movement recently, most notably through its Center for Science and Culture, which boasts a number of leading ID proponents among its fellows and advisers." [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&program=DI%20Main%20Page%20-%20News&id=2745 The Evolution of George Gilder] Joseph P. Kahn. The Boston Globe, July 27 2005.
• [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=602 "Who's Who of Intelligent Design Proponents," Science & Religion Guide] Science and Theology News. November 2005. (PDF file)] [http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/03_Areas/evolution/issues/peerreview.shtml Intelligent Design and Peer Review] American Association for the Advancement of Science.] "The engine behind the ID movement is the Discovery Institute." [http://www.jci.org/cgi/content/full/116/5/1134 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.] and the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID), [ [http://www.iscid.org/fellows.php ISCID fellows] ] criticise "Darwinism" and make a case for intelligent design. [pp. 62, 72, 75, 77, 87, 88, 101, 113, 125 "Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing"] [ [http://www.orthodoxnet.com/articles/Banescu/Review_Uncommon_Dissent_2004.php Review of "Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing" by Chris Banescu] OrthodoxNet.com December 10, 2004] 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. The Discovery Institute is the engine behind the intelligent design movement. [http://www.jci.org/cgi/content/full/116/5/1134 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.]

Contributors

The fifteen "dissenting intellectuals" are:

* William A. Dembski, mathematician, philosopher, theologian, leading intelligent design proponent, CSC Senior Fellow, ISCID Founder
* Robert Koons, philosopher, theologian, Christian apologist, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
* Phillip E. Johnson, law professor, Christian apologist, "father" of the intelligent design movement, CSC Program Advisor
* late Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, mathematician
* Nancy R. Pearcey, Christian apologist, CSC Fellow
* Edward Sisson, attorney
* J. Budziszewski, philosopher, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
* Frank J. Tipler, mathematical physicist, ISCID Fellow
* Michael J. Behe, biochemist, leading intelligent design proponent, CSC Senior Fellow, ISCID Fellow
* Michael John Denton, biochemist
* James Barham, independent scholar
* Cornelius G. Hunter, biophysicist, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
* Roland F. Hirsch, analytical chemist, ISCID Fellow
* Christopher Michael Langan, ISCID Fellow
* David Berlinski, popular mathematics author, CSC Senior Fellow

Phillip E. Johnson's contribution is a reprint of his 1990 "First Things" essay "Evolution as Dogma". Marcel-Paul Schützenberger's "The Miracles of Darwinism" is a reprint of a 1996 interview with "La Recherche". David Berlinski's "The Deniable Darwin" is a reprint of a 1996 "Commentary" essay, along with his responses to critics. The other contributions were specifically commissioned for "Uncommon Dissent".

In a 2004 review on its Web site, the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture describes "Uncommon Dissent" as "a summary of the widespread attack upon Darwinism by some of today’s leading intellectuals." [ [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&program=Book%20-%20CSC&id=3605 Uncommon Dissent, Intellectuals who find Darwinism Unconvincing] Center for Science and Culture, June 1 2004.] Mathematics professor and intelligent-design critic Jason Rosenhouse points out that the subtitle says "intellectuals", not "scientists", and adds that " [v] ery few of the contributors hold PhD's in any field related to biology. ... The ID folks are constantly telling us that evolution is failing as a scientific paradigm, and that scientists are jumping ship in droves. But when they have a chance to put together an anthology of testimonials authored by people who dissent from modern evolutionary theory, they have to resort to philosophers, lawyers or scientists who do not work in any field related to biology." [http://evolutionblog.blogspot.com/2004/06/uncommon-dissent-thats-title-of.html Review of Uncommon Dissent] Jason Rosenhouse. Evolutionblog, June 23, 2004.]

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.

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". [Dembski, "Uncommon Dissent", p. xx."]

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). [Barham, "Uncommon Dissent", pp. 177–8.]

Robert C. Koons says 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". [Koons, "Uncommon Dissent", pp. 4, 17.]

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". [Sisson, "Uncommon Dissent", pp. 75–76, 84.]

Reception by the scientific community

Evolution has broad acceptance within the scientific community, [National Association of Biology Teachers [http://www.nabt.org/sub/position_statements/evolution.asp Statement on Teaching Evolution] ] [ [http://www.interacademies.net/Object.File/Master/6/150/Evolution%20statement.pdf 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)] [From the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society: [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf 2006 Statement on the Teaching of Evolution] (PDF file), [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/0219boardstatement.shtml AAAS Denounces Anti-Evolution Laws] ] and that community rejects intelligent design, ["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." ] with critics such as Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross saying that design proponents seek to destroy evolution and that they employ intentional ambiguity and conflation in using "Darwinism" synonymously with evolution."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." [http://www.designinference.com/documents/2005.05.ID_at_Baylor.htm Barbara Forrest’s Letter to Simon Blackburn] Barbara Forrest. March 2000.] "In [Berlinski's] latest Commentary essay on 'Darwinism' - as it is often called by those who do not know much evolutionary biology..." [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001692848&er=deny Darwinism Versus Intelligent Design] Paul Gross. Commentary Magazine, Vol. 115, March 2003, No. 3]

Of Uncommon Dissent computational physicist and an assistant professor of physics Taner Edis writes: quotation|"...they appear to have taken this as an excuse for an astounding display of pomposity, conspiracy theorizing to explain why their brilliance has been rejected by mainstream science, and patting themselves on the back for intellectual courage. Surely the authors do not expect the sort of posturing they engage in to get them a sympathetic hearing in scientific circles -- so what does all this amount to? An excuse for an all-out culture war, since obviously mainstream science is so corrupt it will not change its evil Darwinian ways unless forced to repent by outsiders?" --"Taner Edis" [ [http://www.csicop.org/bibliography/display.cgi/678 Uncommon Dissent, The SKEPTIC annotated bibliography] Taner Edis.]

The testimony of Barbara Forrest in the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial contributed to the ruling that intelligent design is not science and essentially religious in nature. [, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Case No. 04cv2688. December 20 2005 ] In her expert witness report Forrest presented Nancy R. Pearcey's section in "Uncommon Dissent" as evidence of that religious nature. [ [http://www2.ncseweb.org/kvd/experts/Forrest_expert_report.pdf Expert Witness Report] Barbara Forrest, April 1, 2005, page 28.]

Evolutionary and historical researcher John M. Lynch describes "Uncommon Dissent":

Of the fifteen intellectuals in the book he says: quotation|"It's indicative of something that the initial best case for the failure of Darwinism is given by a philosopher (Koons) with no apparent background in biology and the last word is given to an eight year old piece by a popularizer of mathematics, novelist, and 'accomplished poet'. In between we get a poor sandwich - all filling and no substance." --"John M. Lynch"

ee also

*Wedge strategy
*Intelligent design movement
*Teach the Controversy

References

External links

* [http://www.designinference.com/documents/2003.09.UncDiss_Intro_Contribs.pdf "The Myths of Darwinism"] - the book's introduction, by William Dembski
* [http://www.arn.org/docs/johnson/pjdogma1.htm "Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism"] - Phillip E. Johnson's chapter
* [http://www.iscid.org/papers/Tipler_PeerReview_070103.pdf "Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?"] - Frank Tipler's chapter
* [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?id=496 Darwinian Evolutionary Theory and the Life Sciences in the 21st Century"] - Roland F. Hirsch's chapter
* [http://www.rae.org/dendar.html "The Deniable Darwin"] - David Berlinksi's chapter
* [http://evolutionblog.blogspot.com/2004/06/uncommon-dissent-thats-title-of.html Review of Uncommon Dissent] by Jason Rosenhouse
* [http://darwin.bc.asu.edu/blog/2004/08/04/uncommon-dissent/ Review of Uncommon Dissent] by John M. Lynch