Title: Re: paleonet ID in the
Classroom
Teachers and professors who chose not to treat
Intelligent Design on an equal footing with the modern synthesis of
evolutionary theory are not being "narrow-minded and intolerant."
They offer a course, which has a curriculum and a too limited time to
address concepts, facts, and examples. The instructors have no more
obligation to encompass Intelligent Design within their curriculum
than they do to incorporate Greek, Chinese, and Norwegian creation
myths.
I believe that a historical geology course has the responsibility
to incorporate all of those things into its curriculum, albeit
briefly. Geology is a product of human culture. Geologists
should acknowledge the links to other bodies of knowledge and earlier
perspectives. Acknowledgement is not approval.
The fact that Intelligent Design is a hotly debated
issue is an excellent reason to offer a course in the Philosophy
Department on "The Roots of Modern Discourse concerning
Evolution," but it is an exceptionally lousy reason to do
anything more than to acknowledge the existence of ID and move on with
a biologically and paleontologically grounded course on
evolution.
How long could it take to outline the elements of intelligent
design? ID is for people who insist that there is some sort of
purpose woven into the history of Nature. Therefore adherents to
ID should be discouraged from pursuing the parts of physics,
chemistry, biology and geology that are perverted by the insistence on
the existence of an omniscient design(er). Let them design
lasers and masers like Charles Towne. And let's all rebut them
with vigor when they stick their noses in where they will only hinder
us from discovering something closer to the truth.
It is important that college students learn WHY many members of
the scientific (and broader academic) community do NOT find the
guiding hand of a deity to be particularly helpful or necessary.
If a geology professor says "I don't want to talk about
it", then he or she is unlikely to "win any hearts and
minds", as they used to say.
Bill
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William P. Chaisson
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
607-387-3892