Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science

ISBN-13: 9780878936595 / Angielski / Miękka / 2002 / 275 str.

Massimo Pigliucci

Opis

Denying Evolution aims at taking a fresh look at the evolution-creation controversy. It presents a truly "balanced" treatment, not in the sense of treating creationism as a legitimate scientific theory (it demonstrably is not), but in the sense of dividing the blame for the controversy equally between creationists and scientists-the former for subscribing to various forms of anti-intellectualism, the latter for discounting science education and presenting science as scientism to the public and the media. The central part of the book focuses on a series of creationist fallacies (aimed at showing errors of thought, not at deriding) and of mistakes by scientists and science educators. The last part of the book discusses long-term solutions to the problem, from better science teaching at all levels to the necessity of widespread understanding of how the brain works and why people have difficulties with critical thinking.

O autorze

Massimo Pigliucci is Chair of the Department of Philosophy at CUNY: Lehman College. He holds doctorates in genetics (University of Ferrara, Italy), botany (University of Connecticut) and the philosophy of science (University of Tennessee). Dr. Pigliucci was formerly a Professor of Ecology and Evolution at SUNY: Stony Brook. There he explored phenotypic plasticity, genotype-environment interactions, natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms. He was the recipient of the 1997 Dobzhansky Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution. As a philosopher, Dr. Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion.