Religion & Law

Scientific Philosophy, Philosophical Science

By John Pieret

Glenn Branch has a nice review, entitled "Philosophers, Creationists & Serious Brainiacs," of the new edition, edited by Michael Ruse and Robert Pennock, of But Is It Science?, originally published in 1988.

But Is It Science? is evidently intended as a sourcebook for university classes in philosophy, the history of science, science and religion, and so forth, and as such it succeeds admirably. But it is, or ought to be, appealing to the general public at large. The creationism/evolution controversy is a perennial feature of life in the United States, with attempts to remove, balance, or compromise the teaching of evolution recurring from the Scopes era to the present day. Even if public interest in intelligent design dwindles after Kitzmiller, as public interest in creation science dwindled after McLean and Edwards, the profound yet misguided discomfort with evolution that actuates such assaults on evolution is bound to remain. Also bound to remain are philosophical controversies over creationism, which ? as the Kitzmiller case illustrated so vividly ? have the potential to affect the quality of science education across the country and indeed around the world.

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on August 12, 2009 (boomark / email).