Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith

by Philip Kitcher

Overview

Charles Darwin has been at the center of white-hot public debate for more than a century. In Living With Darwin, Philip Kitcher stokes the flames swirling around Darwin's theory, sifting through the scientific evidence for evolution, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design, and revealing why evolution has been the object of such vehement attack. Kitcher first provides valuable perspective on the present controversy, describing the many puzzles that blocked evolution's acceptance in the early years, and explaining how scientific research eventually found the answers to these conundrums. Interestingly, Kitcher shows that many of these early questions have been resurrected in recent years by proponents of Intelligent Design. In fact, Darwin himself considered the issue of intelligent design, and amassed a mountain of evidence that effectively refuted the idea. Kitcher argues that the problem with Intelligent Design isn't that it's "not science," as many critics say, but that it's "dead science," raising questions long resolved by scientists. But Kitcher points out that it is also important to recognize the cost of Darwin's success—the price of "life with Darwin." Darwinism has a profound effect on our understanding of our place in the universe, on our religious beliefs and aspirations. It is in truth the focal point of a larger clash between religious faith and modern science. Unless we can resolve this larger issue, the war over evolution will go on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195384345
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/28/2009
Series:	Philosophy in Action
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Philip Kitcher is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. An eminent philosopher, he is the author of many books on science, literature, and music, including Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism; The Lives to Come: The Genetic Revolution and Human Possibilities; Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Knowledge; Science, Truth, and Democracy; and In Mendel's Mirror.

Table of Contents

Preface1. Disinterring Darwin2. Goodbye to Genesis3. One Tree of Life4. At the Mercy of Chance? 5. A Mess of PottageNotesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"[Contains] useful contributions to the critique of creationism and the defense of science and evolution." —International Socialist Review

From the Publisher

Charles Darwin (1809-82) died during Queen Victoria's reign, but he continues to be a hot topic in the new millennium. That interest will be heightened even more by this erudite manifesto by Columbia University's John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, Philip Kitcher. Unlike other commentators, Dr. Kitcher doesn't dismiss intelligent design as a "not science." He maintains instead that it's a dead science, even arguing that Darwin himself hammered it into its coffin. Kitcher's position invites no compromise: He insists that Darwinian theories and religious belief are incompatible. Religion's proper role, he argues, is to provide solace and spiritual comfort, not to explain the natural world. A new perspective on living with Darwin, living without God.