Uncommon Dissent
Subtitle: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing
Contributors: John Wilson (Foreword); William A. Dembski (Editor)
Publisher: ISI Books
Published: June 2004
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 366
ISBN-13: 9781932236316
Subjects: Philosophy; Philosophy & Social Aspects; Science; Science/Mathematics; Life Sciences - Evolution; General
First sentence: Darwinism owes its present dominance to the widespread misperception that it has refuted the design argument.
Description: Recent years have seen the rise to prominence of ever more sophisticated philosophical and scientific critiques of the ideas marketed under the name of Darwinism. In Uncommon Dissent, mathematician and philosopher William A. Dembski brings together essays by leading intellectuals who find one or more aspects of Darwinism unpersuasive. As Dembski explains, Darwinism has gathered around itself an aura of invincibility that is inhospitable to rational discussionto say the least: "Darwinism, its proponents assure us, has been overwhelmingly vindicated. Any resistance to it is futile and indicates bad faith or worse." Indeed, those who question the Darwinian synthesis are supposed, in the famous formulation of Richard Dawkins, to be ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked. The hostility of dogmatic Darwinians like Dawkins has not, however, prevented the advent of a growing cadre of scholarly critics of metaphysical Darwinism. The measured, thought-provoking essays in Uncommon Dissent make it increasingly obvious that these critics are not the brainwashed fundamentalist buffoons that Darwinisms defenders suggest they are, but rather serious, skeptical, open-minded inquirers whose challenges pose serious questions about the viability of Darwinist ideology. The intellectual power of their contributions to Uncommon Dissent is bracing.