ID not OK in UK 26 Jun 2007 The Register is reporting that the UK government has ruled that intelligent design is not acceptable in science classes. [via Slashdot] Evolution General Science Politics Social evolution
Evolution More on the Fodor and Piatelli-Palmerini thing 21 Mar 2010 FAPP have replied to Ned Block’s and Phillip Kitcher’s critique in the Boston Review, showing that the interpretation I gave before is the right one: they really do think that because we cannot say without ambiguity, a priori, what it is that natural selection is selecting, and therefore there is… Read More
Education Bigotry in the sunshine state 2 Dec 2008 The only problem with Queensland, apart from the occasional severe storm, is that they filled it with Queenslanders. Here’s a bunch of northern bigots protesting a Muslim school being built on the Gold Coast “because they won’t integrate” with Australian society by being, I don’t know, Christian or something. Resident’s… Read More
Academe Did Synthese bow to Intelligent Design pressure? 14 Apr 20114 Oct 2017 A while back I published a paper in a special edition of Synthese on “Evolution and its rivals”. My paper was titled “Are Creationists Rational?” in which I argued that yes, in a bounded sense they are. I was very pleased to be invited to publish in this front rank… Read More
It’s not just the UK that is not seduced by the hokum of ID or creationism; the Council of Europe has a strong document saying that creationism is dangerous in education: http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc07/edoc11297.htm Although the Christian creationism movement looks strong in the US (and possibly Australia too), I think Americans often don’t understand how little impact it has had in post-Reformation Europe; people just don’t buy it and don’t buy literalist worship of the Bible. The Council of Europe document recognises the dangers inherent in letting Islamic creationism take root too. In the UK, Islamic “faith schools” are a worrying trend in promoting irrationality. We need to be vigilant, but we don’t need to be paranoid!
The British are unique in their irrationality. The same people who can be so sensible about things like evolution can still go gaga over reported ghost sightings.
“In their rationality, all nations are alike. In their irrationality, all nations are unique.” Comment.
“In their rationality, all nations are alike. In their irrationality, all nations are unique.” Comment.
….The same people who can be so sensible about things like evolution can still go gaga over reported ghost sightings. Posted by: Alan Kellogg It’s simple really; we know the difference between science and religion plus we love a mystery.
….The same people who can be so sensible about things like evolution can still go gaga over reported ghost sightings. Posted by: Alan Kellogg It’s simple really; we know the difference between science and religion plus we love a mystery.
I would imagine that in Europe Islamic creationism, as part of a trend towards the isolation and Islamistization of European Muslims must be a prime concern, and that by giving Creationism as a general claim the boot from schools, they tidily get rid of a few local loons, as well as justifying putting a stop to a much more troubling trend. But don’t for a moment forget that there is a small but often vocal English ultraconservative community which isn’t all that different from the sort to be found in the US. They have tacit allies among the more mainstream British conservatives, who now seem on a quest to undermine British public education. The Telegraph’s editorial section usually has one of these types at least once a week.