Darwinism Must Die So Evolution Can Live

Pickens writes "MacArthur fellow Carl Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, has an interesting essay in the NYTimes that says that equating evolution with Charles Darwin opened the door for creationism by ignoring 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution — Gregor Mendel's patterns of heredity, the discovery of DNA, developmental biology, studies documenting evolution in nature, and evolution's role in medicine and disease. Darwinism implies an ideology adhering to one man's dictates, like Marxism, says Safina. He adds that nobody talks about Newtonism or Einsteinism, and that by making Darwin 'into a sacred fetish misses the essence of his teaching.' By turning Darwin into an 'ism,' scientists created the opening for creationism, with the 'isms' implying equivalence. 'By propounding "Darwinism," even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man, one book, one theory,' writes Safina. '"Darwinism" implies that biological scientists "believe in" Darwin's "theory." It's as if, since 1860, scientists have just ditto-headed Darwin rather than challenging and testing his ideas, or adding vast new knowledge.'"

Comments

Re:I sit here in a cafe

[Anonymous Coward]

You sure live up to your name.

Changing the name of something to make it palpable

[XahXhaX]

This is a good idea. Just ask any proponent of creati...err...intelligent design.

Re:That is, as the Brits say, bollocks

[whitehatnetizen]

"Let us pray that Obama can wipe public references to deities into oblivion." Oh the irony.....

All Things Dull And Ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot;


Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom,
He made their horrid wings.


All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.


Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid.
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did.


All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small.
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.