A leading scientist examines the battle between evolution and Intelligent Design in America At the dawn of the twenty- first century, the debate over Darwin's theory of evolution is nearly as contentious as it was in the notorious Scopes trial a century ago. Today, however, people who believe that evolution is "only a theory" have put their hopes in a concept known as Intelligent Design. In Only a Theory, Kenneth Miller dissects the claims of the ID movement in the same incisive style that marked his testimony as an expert witness in Pennsylvania's landmark 2005 Dover evolution trial. Unlike other books on the subject, Only a Theory's critique of ID goes far beyond the scientific claims of the movement. To Miller, America's "soul"--its place as the world's leading scientific nation--is at risk because of this struggle. As he explains, the tactics of this new assault on science mimic earlier efforts of the academic left to remake science as a relativistic, culturally determined enterprise, rather than a rational search for truth about the natural world. Such marginalization, he argues, would effectively destroy American science. Despite this analysis, Miller refuses to play the role of pessimist. He sees this as a teachable opportunity, a moment at which public understanding and support for science can be redeemed, and offers nothing less than a prescription for how America can save its scientific soul.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Slightly disappointing.:
I confess to being slightly disappointed in this book, as, indeed, I was with "Finding Darwin's God". Miller does a pretty good job of demolishing ID 'theory' - not in itself a particularly difficult thing, given that there is not science in it, just religion and PR. But he seems to me to somewhat waste the opportunity to preach to the congregation from his position of a self confessed religious believer. He believes that the ID movement is an American problem (more than elsewhere, anyway) because of the... more info
Big brain and self-awareness:
Professor Miller coauthored a pro-Darwinian high school biology textbook bought by a school in Pennsylvania that had an anti-Darwinian board. In an ensuing lawsuit (Kitzmiller v. Dover), a federal judge ruled that the science of intelligent design (ID) is pseudoscience concocted to unlawfully promote religion. If another board of education makes their students read Only a Theory, it will be guilty of the same crime. These are Miller's thoughts about the human spiritual soul and the purpose of life: "It... more info
Clarifying Irreducible Complexity:
As someone who taught math and science for many years (mostly in religious schools), I am very concerned about the problem of science illiteracy in this country. Fundamental to this problem is a lack of understanding about what constitutes science and what does not. And there is probably not a more obvious example of this issue than the anti-evolution movement in this country. It has appeared in many guises, most recently under the name of Intelligent Design (ID). The flip side to this problem is the... more info
Intelligent Design is dead, Rest in Peace:
Anyone who doesn't know anything about Kenneth Miller would probably assume from the first half of this book that he is an atheist. But no, like Francis Collins, of Human Genome fame, he is a Christian. Many Christians don't have any problems with accepting evolution as being true, as does apparently the Catholic Church, which apparently believes that Creation is allegorical, and actually is represented by God breathing the soul into ancestors of humans at some unspecified time.
Ken Miller really... more info
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