Comments on: The Peer Reviewers Speak http://telicthoughts.com/the-peer-reviewers-speak/ An independent blog about intelligent design Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:42:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: MikeGene http://telicthoughts.com/the-peer-reviewers-speak/#comment-8899 MikeGene Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:36:45 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/?p=561#comment-8899 When Dennett said, "You may want to try to extricate yourself, since you are certainly losing ground fast in the evolutionary community that I am in touch with. As you will see, I do lump your coinage in with "˜reductionism" and "scientism" etc. and think you are doing a disservice to the cause of taking science seriously," Ruse replied, "Now don't be grumpy "“ "You may want to try to extricate yourself, since you are certainly losing ground fast in the evolutionary community that I am in touch with." "” I am a full professor with tenure at a university known chiefly for its prowess on the football field, living out my retirement years in the sunshine "“ I have no reputation to preserve, and frankly can say and do whatever the f**k I want to without sinking further." Now, Ruse is not religious, has a long track record of fighting creationism, and is a fully tenured professor. But what would it be like if Ruse was a theistic evolutionist, no history of fighting creationism, and an assistant professor waiting for tenure? Would he still have written the same book about the history of creationism and evolution? On the other hand, Dennett has a new book that relies on evolutionary psychology that attempts to explain (away?) religion as a natural phenomenon. If Dennett was a new face waiting for tenure, would this book have put his career in jeopardy? One must wonder to what degree peer pressure influences the world described by academia. Unfortunately, as far as I know, science doesn't study this question. Maybe peer pressure has something to do with that too. When Dennett said, "You may want to try to extricate yourself, since you are certainly losing ground fast in the evolutionary community that I am in touch with. As you will see, I do lump your coinage in with "˜reductionism" and "scientism" etc. and think you are doing a disservice to the cause of taking science seriously," Ruse replied, "Now don't be grumpy "“ "You may want to try to extricate yourself, since you are certainly losing ground fast in the evolutionary community that I am in touch with." "” I am a full professor with tenure at a university known chiefly for its prowess on the football field, living out my retirement years in the sunshine "“ I have no reputation to preserve, and frankly can say and do whatever the f**k I want to without sinking further."

Now, Ruse is not religious, has a long track record of fighting creationism, and is a fully tenured professor. But what would it be like if Ruse was a theistic evolutionist, no history of fighting creationism, and an assistant professor waiting for tenure? Would he still have written the same book about the history of creationism and evolution?

On the other hand, Dennett has a new book that relies on evolutionary psychology that attempts to explain (away?) religion as a natural phenomenon. If Dennett was a new face waiting for tenure, would this book have put his career in jeopardy?

One must wonder to what degree peer pressure influences the world described by academia. Unfortunately, as far as I know, science doesn't study this question. Maybe peer pressure has something to do with that too.

]]> By: Douglas http://telicthoughts.com/the-peer-reviewers-speak/#comment-8898 Douglas Sun, 26 Feb 2006 15:32:57 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/?p=561#comment-8898 Amazing. The biology professors say things like "ID is not a scientific approach to the origin of species", yet the "origin of species" involves issues and evidence which is not subject to being <i>scientifically tested</i> within an Evolutionary paradigm in any case. All Evolutionists have when it comes to theorizing about the "origin of species" is "just-so" stories, conjecture, unjustified extrapolation, and "it's the best theory we've got" argumentation. But, woe to ID if it doesn't do any better than Evolution in explaining the "origin of species". (Note, of course, that "origin of species" logically requires "origin of <b>life</b>".) Amazing. The biology professors say things like "ID is not a scientific approach to the origin of species", yet the "origin of species" involves issues and evidence which is not subject to being scientifically tested within an Evolutionary paradigm in any case. All Evolutionists have when it comes to theorizing about the "origin of species" is "just-so" stories, conjecture, unjustified extrapolation, and "it's the best theory we've got" argumentation. But, woe to ID if it doesn't do any better than Evolution in explaining the "origin of species". (Note, of course, that "origin of species" logically requires "origin of life".)

]]> By: Krauze http://telicthoughts.com/the-peer-reviewers-speak/#comment-8891 Krauze Sun, 26 Feb 2006 09:52:36 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/?p=561#comment-8891 Hi Mike, Wow, what a coincidence! I was also considering writing about that article, although from a different angle. Yep, those words should be remembered by any prospective ID researcher. Hi Mike,

Wow, what a coincidence! I was also considering writing about that article, although from a different angle. Yep, those words should be remembered by any prospective ID researcher.

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