Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism - Hardcover

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9780393050905: Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393050904 ISBN 13: 9780393050905

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007

From leading scientists, lawyers, and educators, a new and decisive rebuttal to the assault on evolution from proponents of "intelligent design."

With the pseudoscience of creationism rising again under the guise of "intelligent design," this powerful collection eviscerates the new assault on evolution and reveals the pervasive and insidious threat posed to genuine science by ID proponents like Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, and William Dembski. The sixteen original essays address two key issues: the overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution gathered over 150 years and the dubious underpinnings of creationism; and how society can mount better educational and legal policies to prevent a theological takeover of our public and scientific institutions. The book includes powerful voices in the modern culture war against ID, including Kevin Padian, paleontologist and expert witness in the landmark lawsuit of Kitzmiller v. Dover. With creationist arguments forever morphing and reappearing under new aliases, this new confrontation is a must- read for teachers, students, and general readers, and a ringing and lasting refutation of creationism's fraudulent claims. 12 illustrations

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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.

From Publishers Weekly:

Paying significant attention to creationism's newest incarnation, intelligent design, this revision of Petto and Godfrey's 1983 Scientists Confront Creationism contains mostly new essays and some revised holdovers from the original edition. The 16 articles include contributions from some of the biggest names in the anti-creationism field: Wesley Elsberry demolishes the concept of complexity promoted by William Dembski, while several contributors demonstrate that Dembski defines his terms idiosyncratically, in a manner that scientists have not found productive, and that his mathematics and logic are wanting. Similarly, ample evidence is presented to show that Michael Behe's best examples of irreducible complexity have been found to have simpler versions indicating how they could have evolved. Individually, the chapters are well written for a general audience. Collectively, however, there is a fair amount of repetition, The best chapters directly take on the claims of creationists and promoters of intelligent design; less engaging and useful are chapters that largely ignore the controversy and present detailed evolutionary information. Nonetheless, there is much to help readers gain a robust understanding of the current controversy. Indeed, the point is very clearly made that the battle is a political one and not one of scientific substance. (Mar.)
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