Uncommon Dissent

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.

"Philosophy lends itself to thinking. Certainly, thought should pop into the philosopher's mind frequently and precipitate a mystical investigation of possibilities, stimulating the imagination and provoking the cognitive machinery. Not only are there thoughts in this book, but they are somewhat scattered among several subjects (a tendency of philosophers)." With these words, Samuel Thorpe challenges every reader and prospective scholar to exercise the mind and wonder about reality, knowledge, and values. Learn from the masters and engage their ideas with fresh creative arguments. Readers will be pleasantly surprised how quickly they will be addicted to the study of wisdom. This book is ideal for students of all ages and people who wish to engage their thinking in new ways. Each selection will hopefully provoke readers to consider some other ways to contemplate timeless issues of life that will be conducive to discussion and further reading of classical pieces of philosophy.

Darwin is an emperor who has no clothes— but it takes a brave man to say so. Jonathan Wells, a microbiologist with two Ph.D.s (from Berkeley and Yale), is that brave man. Most textbooks on evolution are written by Darwinists with an ideological ax to grind. Brave dissidents—qualified scientists—who try to teach or write about intelligent design are silenced and sent to the academic gulag. But fear not: Jonathan Wells is a liberator. He unmasks the truth about Darwinism— why it is wrong and what the real evidence is. He also supplies a revealing list of "Books You’re Not Supposed to Read" (as far as the Darwinists are concerned) and puts at your fingertips all the evidence you need to challenge the most closed-minded Darwinist.

The Evidence for God For approximately one hundred years, most secular scientists and the majority of the intelligentsia in the world have “preached” that God does not exist. Darwin’s book, The Origin of the Species, published in 1859, was the primary impetus for this change in our world’s viewpoint away from God. Today, many leaders in academia look at Christians (and others who believe in God) as bereft of intelligence. At the onset of the 20th century, there was very little scientific evidence to suggest that God was the Creator of the Universe. However, since 1917, amazing evidence has been discovered in the fields of cosmology and biology that a significant number of secular scientists admit points to an incredible Creative Force; most call this Force, God. The Philosophical, Scientific, and Historical Evidence for God presents this evidence in a detailed, yet understandable, manner. This book, Dr. Nichols’ eleventh on theology, provides well-researched information showing the ever-increasing evidence for an omnipotent Creator. He considers it to be the magnum opus of his writing career. The significance of the Big Bang theory and the many weaknesses now recognized in the theory of evolution will be thoroughly reviewed. Philosophical and historical evidence for God will also be presented. Dr. Nichols is convinced that an open-minded reader will come away with the realization that God does, indeed, exist, and that He is the God of the Holy Bible.

Science news is met by the public with a mixture of fascination and disengagement. On the one hand, Americans are inflamed by topics ranging from the question of whether or not Pluto is a planet to the ethics of stem-cell research. But the complexity of scientific research can also be confusing and overwhelming, causing many to divert their attentions elsewhere and leave science to the "experts." Whether they follow science news closely or not, Americans take for granted that discoveries in the sciences are occurring constantly. Few, however, stop to consider how these advances--and the debates they sometimes lead to--contribute to the changing definition of the term "science" itself. Going beyond the issue-centered debates, Daniel Patrick Thurs examines what these controversies say about how we understand science now and in the future. Drawing on his analysis of magazines, newspapers, journals and other forms of public discourse, Thurs describes how science--originally used as a synonym for general knowledge--became a term to distinguish particular subjects as elite forms of study accessible only to the highly educated.

After a substantial author’s preface recounting the author’s life-journey with the question of science and design in nature, An Informed Cosmos pulls together essays that jointly cover the core arguments for a scientific theory of intelligent design. Along with a foreword by philosopher of science and leading design theorist Stephen C. Meyer, and a wide range of recommended resources, An Informed Cosmos offers an informed overview of the contemporary case for intelligent design.