Denying Evolution ─ Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science

While denying that creationism can be seen as a scientific theory, Pigliucci (evolutionary biology, U. of Tennessee) blames much of the failure of a resolution of the evolution-creation debate on the inability of evolutionary scientists to promote an understanding of evolution. He explains the fallacies of creationist thinking, while explaining how those fallacies are able to take hold because scientists have not bothered thinking seriously about how to present scientific theory to unscientific students. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Massimo Pigliucci is Chair of the Department of Philosophy at CUNY: Lehman College. He holds doctorates in genetics (University of Ferrara, Italy), botany (University of Connecticut) and the philosophy of science (University of Tennessee). Dr. Pigliucci was formerly a Professor of Ecology and Evolution at SUNY: Stony Brook. There he explored phenotypic plasticity, genotype-environment interactions, natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms. He was the recipient of the 1997 Dobzhansky Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution. As a philosopher, Dr. Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion.