Intelligent Design Creationism and the Mechanisms of Postmodernity

Abstract

Abstract: This article provides a critical reading of Intelligent Design proponents' attempt to create a wedge in secular society to reinsert a theistic worldview. It argues they assert their wedge via the mechanisms of postmodernity: following Frederic Jameson, those informational elements of mass culture that allow them to present their ideas as an alternate to that posed by evolutionary biology. It centres on a representation (by the philosopher of science Robert Pennock) of Intelligent Design advocate, Philip E. Johnson as a postmodern thinker. This article revises Pennock, claiming that while Johnson does attack modern science in his project to champion Intelligent Design, Johnson is not a representative of many precepts of postmodernity. In particular, this chapter reads Johnson as clearly supporting a Christian metanarrative. Moreover, Johnson is a representative of a strategy formulated by the conservative organization, The Discovery Institute, and their campaign called the Wedge Strategy. Exemplified by an internal document leaked to the internet, “The Wedge” is a clearly explicated strategy to combat secular society.