A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism

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"A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism" (or "Dissent from Darwinism") was a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a Christian, conservative think tank based in Seattle, Washington, U.S., best known for its promotion of the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design. As part of the Discovery Institute's Teach the Controversy campaign, the statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random mutations and natural selection to account for the complexity of life, and encourages careful examination of the evidence for "Darwinism", a term intelligent design proponents use to refer to evolution.[1]

The statement was published in advertisements under an introduction which stated that its signatories dispute the assertion that Darwin's theory of evolution fully explains the complexity of living things, and dispute that "all known scientific evidence supports [Darwinian] evolution".[2][3] The Discovery Institute states that the list was first started to refute claims made by promoters of the PBS television series "Evolution" that "virtually every scientist in the world believes the theory to be true".[4] Further names of signatories have been added at intervals.[5][6] The list continues to be used in Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns in an attempt to discredit evolution and bolster claims that intelligent design is scientifically valid by claiming that evolution lacks broad scientific support.[citation needed]

The statement has been criticized for being misleading and ambiguous, using terms with multiple meanings such as "Darwinism", which can refer specifically to natural selection or informally to evolution in general,[7] and presenting a straw man fallacy with its claim that random mutations and natural selection are insufficient to account for the complexity of life, when standard evolutionary theory involves other factors such as gene flow, genetic recombination, genetic drift and endosymbiosis.[8][9] Scientists and educators have noted that its signatories, who include historians and philosophers of science as well as scientists, are a minuscule fraction of the numbers of scientists and engineers qualified to sign it.[8] Intelligent design has failed to produce scientific research, and been rejected by the scientific community,[8] including many leading scientific organizations.[10][11] The statement in the document has also been criticized as being phrased to represent a diverse range of opinions, set in a context which gives it a misleading spin to confuse the public.[7] The listed affiliations and areas of expertise of the signatories have also been criticized.[1][12]

  1. ^ a b Forrest, Barbara (2007). "Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals" (PDF). Center for Inquiry, Inc. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011. As I stated earlier, Johnson, Dembski, and their associates have assumed the task of destroying 'Darwinism,' 'evolutionary naturalism,' 'scientific materialism,' 'methodological naturalism,' 'philosophical naturalism,' and other 'isms' they use as synonyms for evolution.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference advert was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Gross PF, Forrest BC (2004). Creationism's Trojan horse: the wedge of intelligent design. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 172. ISBN 0-19-515742-7.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference over1000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference crowther2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference ranks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Evans01 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Petto, Andrew J. (24 July 2015). "Chapter 2: Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design". In Muehlenbein, Michael P. (ed.). Basics in Human Evolution. Elsevier Science. pp. 23–25. ISBN 978-0-12-802693-9.
  9. ^ "Evolutionary mechanisms". NCSE. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  10. ^ Statements from Scientific Organizations National Center for Science Education.
  11. ^ NCSE Voices for Evolution project, Sager C (2008). Voices for Evolution. National Center for Science Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-615-20461-1.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chang was invoked but never defined (see the help page).