Books October 2007
Design for living
On The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism by Michael J. Behe.
Michael J. Behe
The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism.
Free Press, 320 pages, $28
Nothing in modern biology, which is willy-nilly evolutionary biology, rules out supernatural intervention in the processes of life. But neither is there any scientific evidence for it, although, in principle, evidence might emerge. (Not, I hasten to acknowledge, that science and religion appeal to the same canons of justification.) Despite many defeats, including a disastrous trial of the Dover, Pennsylvania school district, the Intelligent Design (I.D.) movement, which insists that scientific evidence does exist for such supernatural interventions, continues to gain worldwide support. This has little to do with the substance of the target—misnamed “Darwinism.” (It is misnamed because the disciplines of evolution have advanced far beyond Darwin and Wallace of 150 years ago.) The...
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