Re: Colin Patterson/Luther Sunderland

Arthur V. Chadwick (chadwicka@swac.edu)
Wed, 20 Mar 1996 15:36:32 -0800

Patterson replied that the transcript was "garbled and nonsensical in
places...but I think it is roughly accurate.". "He replies to the
second question with a categorical "No." He had thought that he was
talking only to a group of professional systematists and he was
deliberately presenting a viewpoint calculated to provoke discussion.

Having read Patterson's paper a number of times over the years, I would
have to say that Patterson's opinion of what he was discussing does not
square at all with the transcript. While it is clear he disavows
creationism personally, he gives no support for that disavowal in his
presentation. Certainly he would not have given such a talk in a public
forum, but that is precisely the point. What evolutionists say in public is
quite different from what they say among themselves. This is a feature Kuhn
attributes to a theory in crisis.
Art
http://chadwicka.swac.edu