Why Why Darwin Matters Matters

Abstract

The first decade of the twenty-first century will be a curious chapter in the future history of evolutionary thought. In 2005, resistance to evolution manifested in the highly publicized trial of Dover, Pennsylvania over teaching Intelligent Design in public schools. Only four years later, in 2009, universities, museums, and individuals across the globe celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Released in the interlude, Michael Shermer’s Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design takes on the challenge these landmark dates represent: how a thoroughly vetted and accepted scientific theory can be the source of so much cultural conflict. Shermer considers the sources of resistance to evolution, what is at stake, and what a reconciliation between science and religion might look like. Shermer’s own experiences and expertise make him uniquely suited to the task of explaining the overwhelming evidence for evolution...and why it is under attack. Like Darwin, Shermer was a creationist before he was an evolutionist. An evangelical Christian for seven years, he rejected evolution and even considered theology as a profession. But like Darwin, he pursued science instead of theology and followed in Darwin’s footsteps as far as the Galapagos Islands, visiting 169 years after Darwin’s crucial visit. Why Darwin Matters begins with an explanation of evolution and the overwhelming evidence for natural selection. Shermer skillfully interweaves themes from history and philosophy of science in his exposition of the science, yielding a brief but lucid overview of key evolutionary ideas. He emphasizes that the source of resistance to evolution is rarely the scientific details but rather the perceived consequences of evolution: atheism, ethical nihilism, and a lack of meaning. What people care about “is whether teaching evolution will make their kids reject God, allow criminals and sinners to blame their genes for their actions, and generally cause society to fall apart” (p. 25). But according to Shermer, an even greater threat to the theory of evolution is misunderstanding. A large proportion of the public not only misunderstands evolutionary theory but also aspects of science and the scientific process—for example, that calling evolution a “theory” is not a mark against its evidential standing. The real case against Intelligent Design comes in Chapter 4 (“Debating Intelligent Design”), where Shermer identifies common fallacies that underlie challenges to evolution and considers the ten best arguments for an intelligent designer. The arguments range from classics like the argument from design to those that attempt to bolster Intelligent Design’s scientific credibility: Behe’s (1996) “irreducible complexity,” Dembski’s (2002) Law of Conservation of Information, and Wells’s (2000) challenge to the icons of evolution. Shermer provides a clear statement of each argument along with a rebuttal. In the end, Shermer is not impressed. He closes the chapter with this summary of what Intelligent Design has to offer: “lots of miracles, a handful of equations, and ten straw examples set against thousands of compelling lines of inquiry” (p. 87). But if Intelligent Design has so little to show for itself, how has the movement been so influential? In Chapter 5 (“Science under attack”) and Chapter 6 (“The real agenda”), we learn what is really at issue: religion, not science. Shermer considers the beliefs that motivate Intelligent Design’s most prominent (and financially weighty) advocates and the problems with trying to Evo Edu Outreach (2009) 2:141–143 DOI 10.1007/s12052-008-0109-9