Uncommon Dissent

Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing is a 2004 anthology edited by William Dembski in which fifteen intellectuals, among them leading intelligent design proponents and of whom eleven are fellows or advisors of either the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design or the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC), considered the hub of the intelligent design movement, criticise "Darwinism". It is published by the publishing wing of the paleoconservative Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The foreword is by John Wilson, editor of the evangelical Christian magazine Christianity Today. The title is a pun on the principle of biology known as common descent.

Contributors

The fifteen "dissenting intellectuals" are:

• William A. Dembski, mathematician, philosopher, theologian, leading intelligent design proponent, CSC Senior Fellow, ISCID Founder
• Robert Koons, philosopher, theologian, Christian apologist, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
• Phillip E. Johnson, law professor, Christian apologist, "father" of the intelligent design movement, CSC Program Advisor
• Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, mathematician
• Nancy R. Pearcey, Christian apologist, CSC Fellow
• Edward Sisson, attorney
• J. Budziszewski, philosopher, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
• Frank J. Tipler, mathematical physicist, ISCID Fellow
• Michael J. Behe, biochemist, leading intelligent design proponent, CSC Senior Fellow, ISCID Fellow
• Michael John Denton, biochemist
• James Barham, independent scholar
• Cornelius G. Hunter, biophysicist, CSC Fellow, ISCID Fellow
• Roland F. Hirsch, analytical chemist, ISCID Fellow
• Christopher Michael Langan, ISCID Fellow
• David Berlinski, popular mathematics author, CSC Senior Fellow

In a 2004 review on its Web site, the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture describes Uncommon Dissent as "a summary of the widespread attack upon Darwinism by some of today’s leading intellectuals." Mathematics professor and intelligent-design critic Jason Rosenhouse points out in a 2004 post to his blog that the subtitle says "intellectuals", not "scientists", and writes that "[v]ery few of the contributors hold PhD's in any field related to biology. ... The ID folks are constantly telling us that evolution is failing as a scientific paradigm, and that scientists are jumping ship in droves. But when they have a chance to put together an anthology of testimonials authored by people who dissent from modern evolutionary theory, they have to resort to philosophers, lawyers or scientists who do not work in any field related to biology."

Topics addressed

The book contains four sections: Part I: A Crisis of Confidence; Part II: Darwinism's Cultural Inroads; Part III: Leaving the Darwinian Fold; and Part IV: Auditing the Books. Part I, consisting of three essays, offers opinions on why Darwinism is questioned by the public at large. Part II, consisting of four essays, discusses the authors' opinions on the effects Darwinism has had on society and culture. Part III, consisting of three essays, deals with the personal intellectual journeys of contributors Behe, Denton, and Barham, whose attitudes toward Darwinism have changed through their lives. Part IV, consisting of four essays, presents the authors' opinions on the consistency and scope of Darwinism.

Phillip E. Johnson's contribution is a reprint of his 1990 First Things essay "Evolution as Dogma". Marcel-Paul Schützenberger's "The Miracles of Darwinism" is a reprint of a 1996 interview with La Recherche. David Berlinski's "The Deniable Darwin" is a reprint of a 1996 Commentary essay, along with his responses to critics. The other contributions were specifically commissioned for Uncommon Dissent.

Contributor Edward Sisson sees the key question in the debate over biological evolution as whether all life is "the result of chance events occurring in DNA (or perhaps elsewhere) that are then 'selected' in some fashion without the need of any guiding intelligence", thereby undergoing "unintelligent evolution", or whether at least some of the diversity of life on earth can be explained only through "intelligent evolution", in which "an intelligent designer (or designers)" causes preexisting species to undergo designed changes in DNA. His view is that "no data has been found that amounts to real evidence for unintelligent evolution as the explanation for the diversity of life", that "science is ignorant of how the diversity of life came to be", and that "an intelligent cause is necessary to explain at least some of the diversity of life as we see it".

Controversy

"Darwinism" is a term for the underlying theory in those ideas of Charles Darwin concerning evolution and natural selection, and can refer to evolution by natural selection, to evolution more broadly, or to other ideas not directly associated with the work of Darwin. Evolution has broad acceptance within the scientific community, and that community rejects intelligent design, with critics saying that design proponents seek to destroy evolution and that they employ intentional ambiguity in using "Darwinism" synonymously with evolution without knowing much about evolutionary biology.

The book's introduction characterizes Darwinism by the central claim that "an unguided physical process can account for the emergence of all biological complexity and diversity".

Contributor James Barham argues that "it is incorrect to simply equate Darwinism with belief in evolution." He distinguishes empirical Darwinism ("the idea that the formation of new species is due to random changes in individual organisms that happen to be 'selected' by the environment") from metaphysical Darwinism (the claim that "the theory of natural selection has successfully reduced all teleological and normative phenomena to the interplay of chance and necessity, thus eliminating purpose and value from our picture of the world"). For Barham, the "real problem with the evolution debate" is not empirical Darwinism, but a sort of "theory creep" in which a "bold but circumscribed scientific claim" (empirical Darwinism) becomes conflated with "a much more sweeping philosophical claim" (metaphysical Darwinism).

Robert C. Koons acknowledges in Uncommon Dissent that "if evolution is defined broadly enough, there's little doubt that it has occurred." He sees the "defining differential element" of the modern synthesis as the view that "the probability of the occurrence of any mutation is unrelated to its prospective contribution to the functionality of any structure, present or future", and argues that "the natural presumption about the cause of life" lies against this view, and instead with a teleological "intelligent agency position".

Evolutionary researcher and historical researcher John M. Lynch, an Honors Faculty Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Arizona State University's Barrett Honors College, says of Uncommon Dissent in a 2004 review on his blog that "It's indicative of something that the initial best case for the failure of Darwinism is given by a philosopher (Koons) with no apparent background in biology and the last word is given to an eight year old piece by a popularizer of mathematics, novellist, and 'accomplished poet'. In between we get a poor sandwich - all filling and no substance."

In her expert witness report for the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, philosophy professor and intelligent-design critic Barbara Forrest cited Nancy R. Pearcey's writings in Uncommon Dissent as evidence of the religious nature of intelligent design.

External links

• "The Myths of Darwinism" - the book's introduction, by William Dembski
• "Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism" - Phillip E. Johnson's chapter
• "Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?" - Frank Tipler's chapter
• Darwinian Evolutionary Theory and the Life Sciences in the 21st Century" - Roland F. Hirsch's chapter
• "The Deniable Darwin" - David Berlinksi's chapter
• Review of Uncommon Dissent by Jason Rosenhouse
• Review of Uncommon Dissent by John M. Lynch