There's yet another (ho-hum) attack on evolution. Yet this one, 
surprisingly, doesn't come from the usual suspects, fundamentalist 
regious types, but from a far more dangerous source, a philosopher and 
cognitive scientist with the most impeccable of credentials. Wikipedia, 
in fact, quotes another philosopher that this destroyer of Darwinism, 
Jerry Fodor,  is "by common consent the leading philosopher of mind in 
the world today". So it seems we should listen up and pay attention.   As 
for why pigs don't have wings, I don't have a clue, but he apparently 
does. 

His answer appears in an essay with that title in the London Review of 
Books (October 18/07 at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/print/fodo01_.html). 

He asserts:

"An appreciable number of perfectly reasonable biologists are coming to 
think that the theory of natural selection can no longer be taken for 
granted. This is, so far, mostly straws in the wind; but it´s not out of 
the question that a scientific revolution - no less than a major revision 
of evolutionary theory - is in the offing...It is faced with what may be 
the most serious challenge it has had so far. Darwinists have been known 
to say that adaptationism is the best idea that anybody has ever had. It 
would be a good joke if the best idea that anybody has ever had turned 
out not to be true. 

Pretty heavy stuff, right? I've got to say I don't get it. But as he's 
apparently preparing a whole book on the subject, I expect we're going to 
hear lots more about it. Let's just hope the IDers don't find out. 

Stephen

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.          
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus   
Bishop's University                e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2600 College St.
Sherbrooke QC  J1M 1Z7
Canada

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

---

Reply via email to