Zachriel
Posts: 2723
Joined: Sep. 2006
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DLH quotes Robert E. Meyer.
| Quote | | Ben Stein has a dangerous idea. His idea is that professors and teachers who express skepticism about Darwinism are likely to find themselves not granted tenure, castigated and ridiculed, and disqualified from the opportunity to have research papers published. |
Darwinism is a typical ID buzz-word, but regardless of how you define it, many scientists are reasonably skeptical about one aspect of Darwinism or another.
| Quote | | Having reviewed the movie myself, it appeared that Stein was trying to make the case for academic freedom, not attempted to convert anyone to a particular ideological position. |
But if you're a 'Darwinist', you're just like the Nazis.
| Quote | | Stein, in fact, never makes it known what particular beliefs he holds personally, he merely makes it known that he is disgusted by the idea that someone could lose their job over honest doubts about Darwinism. |
No one ever lost their jobs over reasonable doubts about 'Darwinism'.
| Quote | | Asking whether or not a particular object of study is too complex to have evolved by chance is a question germane to scientific examination. Such questions can be quantified by mathematical probabilities. |
Okay.
| Quote | | Any form of “science” that claims it is possible disprove Intelligent Design is no longer applied science, but philosophical speculation. |
You just said it had quantified mathematical probabilities. You can't have it both ways. Scientific assertions can be falsified.
| Quote | | The customary way of attacking “crackpots” who have doubts about Darwinism, is usually with appeals to expertise. We will be told that 99.9% of credible scientists believe in Darwinism. |
Yes, a cite to authority can sometimes be appropriate, in particular, among those outside a given specialty.
| Quote | | What I always tell these people is that I don’t care to hear about an appeal to expertise, I want a methodology. |
A valid argument against a cite to authority is to the evidence. The methodology is to propose a hypothesis with entailed empirical predictions—then test them.
| Quote | | Even those who are not scientifically astute should want to philosophically cross examine the cogency Darwinist assertions for themselves. |
'Philosophically cross examine'? I thought you wanted to discuss science.
| Quote | | coercion and intimidation have no influence or effects in maintaining the monolithic consensus. |
Yes, coercion and intimidation are a valid argument against a cite to authority. But, in this case, it must be a vast conspiracy of biologists, paleontologists, genetics, geologists, microbiologists, even mathematicians.
| Quote | | One quickly realizes that both Darwinists and Intelligent Design theorists, use the same scientific methodology in their investigations. |
No they don't. You just said you wanted to "philosophically cross examine the cogency Darwinist assertions". Science settles disputes by empirical testing.
| Quote | | Ben Stein has a dangerous idea. |
Accusing your cultural opponents of being Hitler is hardly a new idea.
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You never step on the same tard twice—for it's not the same tard and you're not the same person.
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