Only a philosopher could claim seriously that humans owe significant moral duties to microbes. But NYU bioethicist Jeff Sebo delivers precisely that thesis in his new book The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why (W.W. Norton, 192 pp.). Don’t look for a sanctity of human life argument here. Rather, Sebo takes readers on a step-by-step simplified course in moral philosophy.
On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid invites Dr. Casey Luskin to share some of his memories of our longtime colleague Dr. Jonathan Wells, who recently passed away at 82 years old. Dr. Wells was one of the first fellows at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. In a career spanning three decades, Wells made significant contributions to our understanding of the limits of evolutionary processes and the evidence for intelligent design. You may be familiar with Dr. Wells’s 2000 book Icons of Evolution, wherein he exposed a range of falsehoods in popular biology textbooks, including the fraudulent Haeckel embryo drawings, Darwin’s famous finches, the fabled peppered moths, and more. These icons encouraged generations of students to adopt an …
For those who may not remember, Terri Schiavo was a profoundly cognitively disabled woman who became the subject of a legal and cultural battle that made international headlines. The case became a bitter and protracted conflict between Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband who wanted to pull her feeding tube, and the Schindler family that fought to save their child and sister’s life. In the end, the courts granted Schiavo permission to do as he wanted. It took two weeks for Terri to die. This year marks the 20th anniversary of her death, and it seems a good time to take stock of the meaning and legacy of her case. Wesley’s guest is Terri’s brother, Bobby Schindler. He is president of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network that advocates for the medically vulnerable. …
On today’s ID the Future out of the archive, astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez, co-author of The Privileged Planet, begins a two-part conversation with host Casey Luskin by providing a rapid survey of some of the growing evidence that Earth is finely tuned in numerous ways to allow for life. He draws a helpful distinction between local fine tuning and universal fine tuning. And he tells us about the many extra-solar planets astronomers have discovered in recent years and how all that new data continues to undermine the misguided assumption (encouraged by the misnamed “Copernican Principle”) that Earth is just a humdrum planet. Far from it, Gonzalez argues. The conversation highlights Gonzalez’s essay in the open-access anthology Science and Faith in Dialogue. The book presents a …
Great Northern University at Fourth Memorial Church
Spokane, WA
Intelligent Design
Discovery Institute is pleased to announce that our annual Intelligent Design Education Day is returning to Spokane, Washington with thanks to our hosts at Great Northern University. This year’s theme — Creepy Crawly Complexity — will explore the incredible world of “creepy crawlies.”