Category: Education

A corrective to some remarks regarding first principles of reason, showing that such first principles are just that . . .

It seems I need to headline a corrective footnote on basic reasoning, from an ongoing exchange in a current discussion thread: ________ >> I decided to take a look around via Google. It was saddening but unsurprising to see the party-spirited objections to first principles of reason coming from the circle of objector sites. Inadvertently, they… more

Video: Dr George Yancey documents progressivist anti-Christian and partisan biases in the university and even in IQ tests . . . with implications for addressing the commonly encountered “ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo” smear

Yesterday, I ran across the video to be shown below and posted a comment that I think needs to be headlined and seriously pondered if we are concerned that the university functions in an objective, fair-minded, truth-seeking way: This study (HT: WK) as presented in a short lecture by Dr George Yancey — a sociologist… more

Creationist Invited to Speak at Johns Hopkins Commencement! But…

Johns Hopkins invited creationist Ben Carson to speak at the 2013 graduation. Unfortunately, he chose to withdraw as the speaker because gay rights activists complained about Carson’s comments against gay marriage. What is notable is that it is probably well known by now at Johns Hopkins that Carson is a creationist, and that didn’t stop… more

The “ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo” smear championed by Eugenie Scott et al of NCSE is now Law School Textbook orthodoxy . . .

From ENV  — even as Dr Eugenie Scott of NCSE retires (having championed the ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo smear for years and years in the teeth of all correction . . . ) — we see a development, courtesy a whistle-blowing Law School student: The latest attempt to insert creationism into the… more

Slate.com in a Dither Over non-Repeal of LSEA

Slate.com is all upset that repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008 was was rejected yet again in a 3-2 vote in the State Senate. 19 year old Rice University Student Zack Kopplin has been leading the charge to get this “outrage” done away with once and for all, with help from the… more

PZ Myers defends ID-Friendly University Course!

Jerry Coyne has infiltrated a heretofore secret ID operation at Ball State University. Since the secret is now out and in the hands of the Darwinists, I may as well report on it. Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana, is a public university (i.e., part of the state university system). … The course is taught… more

Wiki’s F – - on ID, 3: The pseudoscience false accusation vs the demarcation challenge for origins sciences

(To comment, go here) As we continue to mark up the Wikipedia introductory remarks on ID in its dismissive article, the next focal issue on failure to achieve the vaunted NPOV or carry out responsibilities of truthfulness, warrant and fairness,  is: Intelligent design is viewed as a pseudoscience by the scientific community, because it lacks… more

Wiki’s F – - on ID, 2: Wiki’s ideologically driven corruption of the definitions of science and its methods

As we continue to mark up the Wiki article on ID, the next thing to notice is how the anonymous contributors have projected unto ID,  an accusation of trying to redefine science and its methods in service to supernaturalistic creationism: Intelligent design (ID) is a form of creationism promulgated by the Discovery Institute . .… more

They said it: contrasted introductions to (and definitions of) Intelligent Design at Wikipedia and New World Encyclopedia

News has just put up a post with the Meyer lecture on intelligent design (with a close focus on the pivotal case, origin of life, the root of Darwin’s tree of life analogy).  I responded here, in light of the history of ideas issues raised by the lecture as well as the question of why… more

The island that (maps notwithstanding) simply wasn’t there . . .

This morning, I ran across a news item on the “undiscovery” of Sandy Island off Australia: Most explorers dream of discovering uncharted territory, but a team of Australian scientists have done the exact opposite. They have found an island that doesn’t exist. (vid at the linked) This led me to think about the institution of… more

Ben Carson on Education

Denyse O’Leary has a piece that may interest UD readers at TheBestSchools.org: Readers may remember Ben Carson, the gifted neurosurgeon who failed Political Correctness 101 at Emory University and then gently but pointedly attacked PC in his commencement address. Carson’s sin was to point out that Darwin’s theory of evolution offers no firm basis for… more

The TSZ and Jerad Thread, III — 900+ and almost 800 comments in, needing a new thread . . .

Okay, the thread of discussion needs to pick up from here on. To motivate discussion, let me clip here comment no 795 in the continuation thread, which I have marked up: _________ >> 795Jerad October 23, 2012 at 1:18 am KF (783): At this point, with all due respect, you look like someone making stuff… more

Free Online Course: Introduction to Genetics and Evolution

Critics of modern evolutionary theory have an intellectual responsibility to strive to understand the paradigm that they are critiquing, preferably to a level where they can clearly articulate the key propositions of evolutionary theory and offer a standard defense of them. Richard Hoppe, at the Panda’s Thumb blog, drew my attention to a free online… more

UD PRO-DARWINISM ESSAY CHALLENGE

On Sept 23rd, I put up an essay challenge as captioned, primarily to objecting commenter Jerad. As at October 2nd, he has definitively said: no. Joe informs us that Zachriel has tried to brush it aside: Try Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859). It’s a bit dated and longer than 6,000 words, (the 6th edition is… more

Okay, you are poor, but you want to take Prof Woodward’s Darwin vs. design course? Here’s good news!

Just state why you think you should learn about reasons for thinking that there is a design of life. more

Darwin’s followers SHOULD take Prof Woodward’s Darwinism and Intelligent Design course

Now that non-Darwinist microbiologist James Shapiro is writing regularly at the Huffington Post, Darwin’s followers will have to get used to hard questions, and not all from ID theorists. more

Where WOULDN’T ID theorist Bill Dembski send a high school senior to university?

” I would like to recommend Christians institutions, but I’m dead-set against many of them and ambivalent about most of the rest. ” more

Trinity College of Florida offers online “Darwinism & Intelligent Design” course

” … examining three dimensions (science, philosophy and history) of the contemporary debate between the two theories.” more

Christine Shellska: “Discovering the Discovery Institute” (NOT)

An entire PhD dissertation about the Discovery Institute is being put together by Christine Shellska. Her claim is: I argue that the Discovery Institute has “rebranded” creationism as ID, and that its strategies include attempts to disrupt the translation of evolution into education and the broader public. Discovering the Discovery Institute Some problems with her… more

PhD Specificity

And coffee. more

Next Page »