1. strangerfruit
  2. PhDs? Yep. Science? Not so much.

PhDs? Yep. Science? Not so much.

By jlynch on December 6, 2007.

DI "policy analyst" Logan Gage tells us:

Michael Behe does biochemical research with his University of Pennsylvania Ph.D.; Jonathan Wells does biological research with his U.C. Berkeley Ph.D.; Stephen Meyer researches the history and philosophy of science with his Cambridge University Ph.D.; etc.

Not quite. Behe stopped being a productive scientist a long time ago. Wells has published a total of three peer-reviewed papers in the thirteen years since he got his PhD, the last of which in the scientific equivalent of The Onion. Meyer - to the best of my knowledge - has never published a peer-reviewed article in the history and philosophy of science, or at least one in any of the HPS journals that I know of.

If this is Gages’ best case, it's laughable; ID flacks may have "reputable Ph.D.s," but they ain’t doing any science with them.

Tags
Intelligent Design
The Life Academic

More like this

Responding to the DI
The Discovery Institute is apparently going to come out with a report tomorrow outlining 14 "false facts" in my book. I hope that the first I hear about the contents of this report is not on the air with Michael Medved. We'll see. Still, we can start with Discovery's press release announcing the…
The Discovery Institute: Still Dishonest about Peer Review
The DI has, predictably, issued a press release spinning yesterday's announcement from the board of the Biological Society of Washington. Also predictably, it contains several misrepresentations. That's what you have to do when the facts are against you, so it's hardly a surprise. The distortions…
Luskin on Judge Jones, Round 2
Casey Luskin has responded, apparently, to my post about his seemingly conspiratorial question for Judge Jones. I noted that he had clearly implied that Judge Jones had allowed someone else to write his ruling. The only alternative was that Luskin was making a terrible analogy. Now he says the…
Sandefur and Brayton on Fire
Time for another installment of, “How bad have things gotten for the ID folks?” It is now almost a year since the big ruling in the Dover case. As I'm sure you recall, that's the one where the ID folks put their most formidable legal and scientific talent in front of a Court, and the Court…

I like how he refers to Ph.D.s as if they're actual tools. Like magnifying glasses. To find nonexistent needles in haystacks.

By Evil Monkey (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

So Basically the DI is saying "look at all these PhDs, they must be Right. This is otherwise known as an appeal to Authority. Nevermind that what they propose is not science. Forget that all they offer is logical fallacy and "god-of-the-gaps". They have PhDs, and so must be right!
Technologists have a word for an otherwise useless person who has a PhD -- "Piles it Higher and Deeper"

Wells isn't the worst case of credentialism among IDers.

Casey Luskin wrote at one point: "As an attorney and scientist who observed the Dover intelligent design (ID) trial, I can testify that George Annas's account is incomplete."

According to his bio at the IDEA website, Luskin holds an M. S. degree in earth sciences from UCSD and a J. D. from USD School of Law. Oh well...