Recent years have seen the rise to prominence of ever more sophisticated philosophical and scientific critiques of the ideas marketed under the name of Darwinism. In Uncommon Dissent, mathematician and philosopher William A. Dembski brings together essays by leading intellectuals who find one or more aspects of Darwinism unpersuasive. As Dembski explains, Darwinism has gathered around itself an aura of invincibility that is inhospitable to rational discussion-to say the least: "Darwinism, its proponents assure us, has been overwhelmingly vindicated. Any resistance to it is futile and indicates bad faith or worse." Indeed, those who question the Darwinian synthesis are supposed, in the famous formulation of Richard Dawkins, to be ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked. The hostility of dogmatic Darwinians like Dawkins has not, however, prevented the advent of a growing cadre of scholarly critics of metaphysical Darwinism. The measured, thought-provoking essays in Uncommon Dissent make it increasingly obvious that these critics are not the brainwashed fundamentalist buffoons that Darwinism's defenders suggest they are, but rather serious, skeptical, open-minded inquirers whose challenges pose serious questions about the viability of Darwinist ideology. The intellectual power of their contributions to Uncommon Dissent is bracing.
"If you've never heard the term post-Darwinian, welcome to the world of thinkers who reject evolutionary theory and its reliance on the notion of chance (i.e. 'random mutation'). In this provocative volume, biologists, mathematicians and physicists as well as theologians and other intellectuals . . . argue, as editor Dembski writes, that 'the preponderance of evidence goes against Darwinism.'"
Publishers Weekly
"In this provocative volume, biologists, mathematicians and physicists as well as theologians and other intellectuals . . . argue, as editor Dembski writes, that 'the preponderance of evidence goes against Darwinism.'. . . Anyone interested in these debates and their implications for education will find this collection to be important reading." >"[A] collection of very smart essays written by lead
