1. tfk
  2. Merry Kitzmas

Merry Kitzmas

By tfk on January 3, 2010.

To celebrate the 4th anniversary of ID creationism's defeat in Dover, PA, the Disco. 'Tute is making things up. Having, it seems, nothing new to say on the subject, they've reposted an ill-argued and factually inaccurate essay by philosopher of the mind Thomas Nagel, prefacing it by claiming:

Editor's Note: Dec. 20 was the 4th anniversary of the Kitzmiller v. Dover decision banning the mention of intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania classrooms.

Except no. The Kitzmiller decision didn't ban the mention of ID in Dover's schools. It blocks the school board from requiring science teachers to teach ID as a science. In a comparative religion class, a philosophy class, or other such setting, it could be appropriate and legal to teach about ID.

It looks like the DI's blog is still out to live up to its mission: "The misreporting of the evolution issue is one key reason for this site." Keep at it, guys! You're almost at your fifth anniversary!

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Policy and Politics

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Nagel proves as competent on evolution and its history as he is on consciousness:

From the beginning it has been commonplace to present the theory of evolution by random mutation and natural selection as an alternative to intentional design as an explanation of the functional organization of living organisms.

No, it's a commonplace to present the theory of evolution as the only sound inference from the details of life. Only the most superficial and teleologically-biased consideration could come to any sort of conclusion that life was designed.

As intelligent would be the claim that it is a commonplace to teach language evolution as if it were an alternative to the intentional design of said languages (at the tower of Babel?). An absurdity, as only language evolution explains the taxonomy and similarities of languages, just as only biological evolution explains taxonomy, the similarities of life, and the fossil record.

Bad philosophy will always be used to prop up bad "science."

Glen Davidson
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

Or, to put it more bluntly, Nagel's bought into the transparent propaganda that ID is the default position.

Which makes sense, for he apparently supposes that "non-material consciousness" is also the default position, needing no actual evidence for it.

Glen Davidson
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p