Category: Biography
Must-see Vid: Darwin’s heretic — Alfred Russel Wallace
| January 22, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under academic freedom, Biography, ID Foundations, science education, Video |
A few months back, we looked at the story of Wallace’s views here and again here. Now, thanks to an online premiere, here’s the movie (HT: ENV): embedded by Embedded VideoYouTube Direkt Relax, enjoy, and discuss. END _____________ F/N: to understand Wallace, have a read of his major book published in 1910 ff, The World… more
Lynn Margulis (March 5, 1938-November 22, 2011)
| November 23, 2011 | Posted by News under Biography, Intelligent Design, News, Science |
Best known for her theory of endosymbiosis. more
New Book on Alfred Russel Wallace and the ID Connection
| January 29, 2011 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Biology, Books of interest, Intelligent Design |
![250px-Alfred_Russel_Wallace_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_14558[1]](http://www.uncommondescent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/250px-Alfred_Russel_Wallace_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_1455815.jpg "250px-Alfred_Russel_Wallace_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_14558[1]")
In my new book, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life, I take the reader on a journey from 19-century England, to the wilds of the Amazon River Basin, to the Malay Archipelago, and back to the highly charged scientific climate of Victorian London. Wallace’s story is one of discovery, from shocking Charles Darwin with his… more
Leigh Van Valen (1935-2010)
| October 18, 2010 | Posted by Paul Nelson under Biography, Intelligent Design |
Leigh Van Valen — an evolutionary biologist for whom the word “polymath” is entirely appropriate — died this past weekend, after a long illness. Leigh was a student of both Theodosius Dobzhansky and G.G. Simpson at Columbia University, and spent most of the rest of his career at the University of Chicago, where he served… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 4
| December 18, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
Since writing Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution, Gertrude Himmelfarb has moved on to treat a wide range of topics. Nevertheless, her influence as an especially cogent historian of the man and his theory continues. A few have taken notice. Margaret A. Fay, for example, mentions her “insightful and lucid analysis.”1Philosopher/theologian Edward T. Oakes, S.J., PhD, wrote: “I… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 2
| December 15, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism |
In part 1 it was demonstrated that Gertrude Himmelfarb’s Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution is the book Darwinists love to hate. In order to understand why a rather detailed examination is required. Of course, this is a big biography and an exhaustive account cannot be given here, but a summary investigation will make the source of the… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 1
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism |
A few months ago The Panda’s Thumb used the occasion of Irving Kristol’s death on September 18th to denigrate Gertrude Himmelfarb’s 50 year-old Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution as a “terrible book . . . demonstrating a lack of understanding of biology and a warped view of Darwin’s influence.” The article, written by Jeffrey Shallit, glibly casts aspersions on the late Kristol’s… more
The Darwin Myth by Benjamin Wiker is a Must Read!
| June 7, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Darwinism, Evolution |
Benjamin Wiker’s The Darwin Myth was first available on Amazon.com on June 2; my book on natural selection’s co-discoverer Alfred Russel Wallace, titled Alfred Russel Wallace’s Theory of Intelligent Evolution, first appeared on Amazon on February 16. My aim in pointing this out is only to say that had Dr. Wiker been well ahead of me instead of a little… more
Book on Alfred Russel Wallace now available!
| February 14, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Intelligent Design |
Published by Erasmus Press, Alfred Russel Wallace’s Theory of Intelligent Evolution: How Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwinism is now available purchase book. In this book I provide a context and perspective with which to analyze the intellectual legacy of famed 19th-century naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace. In it two principle themes are argued: 1) Darwin’s theory of… more
‘Lincoln and Darwin — Live For One Night Only!’ Now On-Line
| February 11, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Biography, Creationism, Culture, Darwinism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Just For Fun, Media, Philosophy, Religion, Science |
I am pleased to say that an audio version (MP3) of my play ‘Lincoln and Darwin — Live for One Night Only!’ is now on-line at ‘The Sci-Phi Show’, courtesy of Jason Rennie, the Sydneyside philosophical broadcaster. Here it is, just in time for Lincoln and Darwin’s 200th birthday (tomorrow). The play runs to 85… more
Saving Darwin’s Soul: Does His 21st Century Fate Rest on Fighting 19th Century Battles?
| January 31, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Biography, Biology, Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Design of Life |
This week marks the publication of the Darwin book that has so far received the most advance publicity in the UK, Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins, by Adrian Desmond and James Moore (Allen Lane). Desmond and Moore, both together and separately, have written some of the best histories of… more
Vatican to exclude ID & Evolutionists from Origins conference
| November 3, 2008 | Posted by DLH under Biography, Creationism, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science, theistic evolution |
The Vatican apparently seeks to understand biological evolution, as long as speakers do not address the issue of origins whether advocates of Intelligent Design, Creationists, or Evolutionists. That appears to a priori exclude the foundational issue of causation. It also appears to assume that papers on “biological evolution” do not have any unstated assumptions on… more
Science or Monkey Business?: A Review of Roy Davies’ The Darwin Conspiracy
| August 1, 2008 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Biology, Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
Imagine if you will a rather pathetic little boy oppressed by a domineering father and overshadowed by older sisters assuming maternal roles that directed his every move. Under such conditions it’s not surprising that certain survival strategies would be employed by the boy to establish his place in the family pecking order. Thus it was, according… more
John Scotus Eriugena – a 9th century advocate of “intelligent design”
| March 17, 2008 | Posted by DLH under Biography, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion |
While cleric Michael Heller disparages Intelligent Design, Chuck Colson observes: “John Scotus Eriugena is considered perhaps the first proponent of “intelligent design.” See: Learning from the Irish, Chuck Colson “Observe the forms and beauties of sensible things,” he wrote, “and comprehend the Word of God in them. If you do so, the truth will reveal… more
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin?
| December 26, 2007 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Darwinism |
Another Darwin Biography Ecclesiastes tells us, “Of making books there is no end,” and nowhere is that a greater truism than in the ever growing corpus of Darwiniana. At present writing OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), the world’s largest bibliographic database, lists 14,129 books and articles with occurrences of Darwin, Darwinism, or Darwinian in the… more