| [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Thread Index] | [Date Prev] | [Date Next] | [Date Index] |
Practicing physicians in the US _must_ have a MD degree, or some equivalent (e.g. DPM). The Ph.D. does not count. Ph.D.'s in medicine are reserved for medical research, though most Ph.D.s in medicine generally also hold a MD degree (most programs that offer the Ph.D. offer it jointly with the MD). And I have to say that, having some familiarity with those programs, that the quality of research mentoring offered in the medical Ph.D. programs is in no way less than what is expected in other scientific disciplines. A dissertation is produced, and active research and publication is expected. Look, ID and other creationists who hold advanced degrees in science do not hold their beliefs because they received insufficient training or anything like that. They are religious fundamentalists, and they interpret everything in the world around them in that light (no pun intended). I have personally known two geologists who received Ph.D.s from two of the top 10 Geology programs in the country, and yet are creationists. Smart enough to get the degree, but no, not smart enough to be good scientists. I agree with the emphasis that has been placed on the role of history in this debate. Unfortunately, that is a point that is quite often highlighted by creationists, precisely because it is a soft spot in the framework of evolutionary theory. There are no "tests" of evolution, in the Popperian sense, to be had from the geological record. There is inference only. I am a strong proponent of inferential science, and there is nothing preventing predictive hypotheses being generated from observations based on the fossil record. But _strong_ tests are in the neontological domain. _Understanding_ the history of life, and the current state, does indeed require history, but remember, it does have a significant interpretive component. Our deep time science also differs from that of the physicists in one very important and fundamental way. Physicists can theoretically, and quite often in practice, reverse time. They do it all the time when they study conditions of the early Universe in particle accelerators. We can't do that. But we do have a record, and it is, in my opinion at least, most consistent with evolutionary theory and the Modern Synthesis. Peter -- Dr. Peter D. Roopnarine, Assoc. Curator Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology California Academy of Sciences 875 Howard St. San Francisco CA 94103 Phone: (415) 321-8271 FAX: (415) 321-8615 WWW: http://www.calacademy.org/research/izg/roopnarine/peter.htm No more wars please
Partial index: