Neo-Darwinism

Photo by Allie Smith

Teaching about Scientific Dissent from Neo-Darwinism

In their recent Opinion article in TREE1, Eugenie Scott and Glenn Branch argue that teaching students that there is a scientific controversy about the ‘validity of evolution’ is ‘scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible’. In so doing, Branch and Scott assume that they have critiqued my position on the teaching of evolution. But they fail to define their terms and engage the Read More ›

The Evolution Debate:

Deep cultural conflicts often give rise to myths. Some article of propaganda resonates so strongly with a part of the community that eventually - sometimes quickly - a deeply biased or simply false story is accepted as the truth about a set of historical events. Read More ›

Intelligent Design Could Offer Fresh Ideas on Evolution

There is a growing public debate over how best to teach evolution in America’s schools. But contrary to Alan Leshner (” ‘Intelligent design’ theory threatens science classrooms,” Nov. 22), that debate is not focused on requiring students to learn the theory of intelligent design. Neither the Cobb County School Board in Georgia nor the Ohio State Board of Education mentioned Read More ›

Can We Detect Evidence of Purpose Scientifically?

This week Baylor University hosted a major conference on a profound subject. Organized by the new Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor and entitled The Nature of Nature, the conference will entertain weighty questions: Is nature all there is, or does it point beyond itself? Does the world exhibit signs of purpose, and if so, might we be able to detect Read More ›