>On December 19, 1997, the well-known PBS program "Firing Line" will air a
>two-hour special on the evolution-creation controversy. The
>program will be a debate, taking place on a college campus before a student
>audience.
>
>Host William Buckley has once again invited Michael Kinsley, editor of the
>on-line magazine Slate, to moderate. Buckley will join
>other debaters arguing in favor of the resolution, "Resolved: The
>evolutionists should acknowledge creation." All but one guest has
>been chosen from the best-known anti-evolutionists, and the leading
>defenders of evolution. Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, Executive Director of
>the National Center for Science Education; Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive
>Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and
>State; philosopher Michael Ruse, author of But Is It Science? and Monad to
>Man; and Kenneth R. Miller, Div. of Biology and Medicine,
>Brown University. Buckley will be joined by law professor Phillip Johnson,
>author of Darwin on Trial; biochemist Michael Behe, author
>of Darwin's Black Box ; and mathematician David Berlinski, whose
>anti-evolution article in Commentary drew considerable attention last
>year. (Miller and Johnson have already participated in an online debate
>sponsored by the television science series "Nova".)
>
For those who would like to learn more about David Berlinski, I
managed to find a few resources on the web which I'll pass along.
Unfortunately, I could not find his original article in <Commentary>,
I guess I'll have to trudge to the library unless some kind soul
out there might have an electronic version they could send me.
The letters to the editor prompted by Berlinski's article, along
with a lengthy reply from Berlinski are available at:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/9609/letters.html
Be forewarned, 55 pages long!
There is also an article by Berlinski published in <Forbes>
entitled "The End of Materialist Science" available at:
http://www.forbes.com/asap/120296/html/david_berlinski.htm
Finally, there is a review by Berlinski of Gould's <Full House>
in <Origins and Design>
http://www.mrccos.com/arn/odesign/od181/berlinski181.htm
One reason I went searching for stuff about Berlinski is
that I was rather surprised at seeing him aligned with
creationists in a debate. Practically everything I knew of
him came from reading his excellent book <Black Mischief>,
an entertaining and humorous collection of anecdotes and
short essays. I couldn't recall reading anything there that
would even remotely suggest that he is a creationist.
Berlinski cleared up this confusion for me in his reply mentioned
above, he's not a creationist:
======
"Some readers seem to have been persuaded that in criticizing
the Darwinian theory of evolution, I intended to uphold a doctrine
of creationism. This is a mistake, supported by nothing that I
have written.
[...]
PAUL R. GROSS is anxious lest in criticizing Darwinian theory I give
comfort to creationists. It is a common concern among biologists,
but one, I must confess, to which I am indifferent. I do not
believe biologists should be in the business of protecting the rest
of us from intellectual danger." -- Berlinski
=======
There were some extremely good replies to Berlinski, some that
seemed to completely miss the point and some that were just
downright childish or stupid. Into the last category I would
put the letters by Dawkins and Dennett. [BTW, my spell checker
wanted to replace Dawkins by Darkens, how appropriate :)]
Although I don't agree with everything Berlinski wrote, I
must say that he did an extremely good job of defending
himself.
By and large he comes out looking much better than most of
his opponents and I suspect he will do really well in the
debate.
Brian Harper
Associate Professor
Applied Mechanics
The Ohio State University
"... we have learned from much experience that all
philosophical intuitions about what nature is going
to do fail." -- Richard Feynman