RE: teaching evolution in Wisconsin

John E. Rylander (rylander@prolexia.com)
Mon, 27 Sep 1999 13:07:34 -0500

> I just came across a news release describing a new approach to teaching
> evolution in high school that was developed by people here at UW. The
> approach was tested at a local high school and is described in the release
> (see web site below). Given the timing with regard to the Kansas
> controversy, I thought some of you might be interested in this. Comments?

Steve,

Thanks for the URL -- very interesting, even exciting.

The one thing that jumped to my philosophically-oriented mind:

"Given the assumptions informing these models, any of
them can work," states Donovan. "However, not all the
assumptions are consistent with a scientific worldview."

What do you think he meant by "scientific worldview"?

Naturalistic "scientism", methodology implying metaphysics? Or just
"rationally cognizant of all relevant scientific data and theories"? Or . .
. ?

John