Uncommon Dissent — New anthology highlights intellectuals’ skepticism of Darwinian evolution

SEATTLE, AUGUST 19 — Even as some defenders of Darwinism claim there is no real debate over evolution, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow William Dembski has compiled multiple essays by scientists and other scholars in Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing that proves otherwise.

“Darwinism, its proponents assure us, has been overwhelmingly vindicated,” says Dembski. “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.

Dembski disagrees and to prove the point he brings together essays by fifteen leading intellectuals who find one or more aspects of Darwinism unpersuasive.

Reviewer Bruce Thornton thinks that Dembski does indeed prove his point: “The best critics of Darwinian evolution are precisely that: intellectuals and scientists scrutinizing the claims of Darwinian theory, and pointing out its flaws and weaknesses,” says Thornton, professor of Classics at Cal State Fresno. (Click here to read Thornton’s review)

The measured, thought-provoking essays in Uncommon Dissent make it increasingly obvious that these critics are not the brainwashed fundamentalist buffoons that Darwinism’s defenders suggest they are, but rather serious, skeptical, open-minded inquirers whose challenges pose serious questions about the viability of Darwinist ideology.

“This illuminating book constitutes another sign that a new scientific revolution is coming,” writes Mario Beauregard, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Research Center at the Université de Montréal. “[O]ne that will ultimately lead to the recognition of the quintessential role of intelligent causation in evolution and mark the end of metaphysical materialism.”

William A. Dembski is associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science at Baylor University and a senior fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle. The author of numerous articles on intelligent design and mathematical, philosophical, and theological matters, his books include The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities and No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence.

To schedule interviews with the editors please contact Rob Crowther at rob@discovery.org.