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But is it Science?
The Philosophical Question in the Creation/Evolution Controversy
review by Gert Korthof
21 Jan 1998 (updated: 21 Oct 2009)

But is it Science?. Michael Ruse .    About the author:
Michael Ruse was an expert witness in a creation science test case in Arkansas in 1981, wherein a federal judge ruled unconstitutional a state law mandating the reading of creationism alongside evolution in state schools.
Michael Ruse is professor of history and philosophy at the University of Guelph, Ontario and the author of eight books, including a trilogy on Darwinism: The Darwinian Revolution (1978), Darwinism Defended (1982), and Taking Darwin Seriously (1986).

Although I include this anthology in the category 'Anti-Creationism', there are articles of creationists (William Paley, Adam Sedgwick and Duane Gish); critics of Darwinism (Karl Popper) and critics of neo-Darwinian gradualism (S.J. Gould). Even critics of Ruse himself are included (Larry Laudan).

Professor Ruse is now at Florida State University.

An updated edition of But Is It Science? was published in January 2009 by Prometheus Books. A review was published in Skeptic.

An important chapter is: 8. 'Is there a limit to our knowledge of evolution?' which contains the useful distinction:

(1) the fact of evolution (organisms did evolve on earth from common ancestors): either evolution occurred, or it did not.
(2) the path taken (phylogenies) there is a limit of our knowledge of the path, but progress is possible.
(3) the mechanism (the causes behind the process). Ruse is pessimistic about the possibility of our ever knowing fully the causes of evolutionairy change.

book "But is it Science?"
The philosophical question in the creation/evolution controversy.
edited by Michael Ruse.
Prometheus Books.
1988
406 pages.

Contents.
  1. Genesis
  2. Natural theology - William Paley
  3. The relationship between science and Religion in Britain. - Michael Ruse
  4. Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species - Michael Ruse
  5. On the origin of species - Charles Darwin
  6. Objections to Mr. Darwin's theory of the origin of species - Adam Sedwick
  7. The origin of species - T.H. Huxley
  8. Is there a limit to our knowledge of evolution ? - Michael Ruse.
  9. The mechanisms of evolution. - Franciso J. Ayala
  10. Darwinism as a metaphysical research program. - Sir Karl Popper
  11. Karl Popper's Philosophy of Biology - Michael Ruse
  12. Is a new and general theory of evolution emerging ? - Stephen Jay Gould
  13. Did Darwin get it right? - John Maynard Smith
  14. Universal Darwinism - Richard Dawkins
  15. The Creationists - Ronald L. Numbers
  16. "Scientific Creationism" - Michael Ruse
  17. Creation, Evolution and the historical evidence - Duane T. Gish
  18. Act 590 of 1981, General Assembly, State of Arkansas
  19. Witness Testimony Sheet. - Michael Ruse
  20. United States District Court Opinion - Judge William R. Overton
  21. The demise of the demarcation problem - Larry Laudan
  22. Science at the bar - causes for concern. - Larry Laudan
  23. Pro Judice. - Michael Ruse
  24. More on Creationism. - Larry Laudan
  25. The philosopher of science as expert witness. - Philip L. Quinn
  26. The academic as expert witness. - Michael Ruse
  27. Creationism, methodology and politics. - Philip L. Quinn
Glossary, Further Reading

Further Reading

  • Michael Ruse (1999) Biology and The Foundation of Ethics. Cambridge University Press,
  • Michael Ruse (1999) The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. 2nd Edition. University of Chicago Press.
  • Michael Ruse (1999) Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction? Harvard University Press.
  • Michael Ruse The Evolution Wars: A Guide to the debates. A B C-CLIO. June 2000.
    Chapter 9 "Challenges to orthodoxy: Alternatives to Darwinism" is an anti-Gould chapter (punctuated equilibria).
  • Michael Ruse Darwin & God. Dr.J.Tans lecture, Studium Generale, Maastricht, November 2000.
  • Michael Ruse Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? The Relationship between Science and Religion. Cambridge University Press. 2001
    My first impression is that this book is better than I expected, better than for example Mystery of Mysteries. It is not academic, but about questioins that matter a lot for many people. There is an approving review of this book by Charles Harper in Nature 411, 239-240 (2001).
  • Michael Ruse Darwin and Design: Does evolution have a purpose? Harvard University Press, 2003. A positive review by Mark Ridley in Nature 423, 686-687. "There is no central argument to unify the book, but Ruse holds a consistently Darwinian position against all its critics. Adapation exists, it matters, it is not explained by God; it is explained, and with exemplary scientific propriety, by natural selection, and is a legitimate topic for scientific research."
  • Michael Ruse (2005) The Evolution-Creation Struggle. Harvard University Press. A history of the evolution-creation controversy with emphasis on elements leading up to this uniquely American controversy.
  • Michael Ruse (2008) Charles Darwin, Blackwell Great Minds, Volume 5. (info). Review.
  • Michael Ruse (2008) 'A Challenge Standing on Shaky Clay', Science 3 October 2008, Vol. 322. no. 5898, pp. 47 - 48.
    This is a review of: Steve Fuller (2008) 'Dissent over Descent. Intelligent Design's Challenge to Darwinism': "The important thing is that all of this is completely wrong and is backed by no sound scholarship whatsoever. ... It is ludicrous to claim that modern evolutionary biology is not integrated with molecular biology."
  • Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (2009) Evolution. The First Four Billion Years.
  • Michael Ruse (2009) Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology. Release Date: March 15, 2009
  • Michael Ruse (2009) Defining Darwin: Essays on the History and Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology, Prometheus Books, Hardcover 271 pages.
  • Michael Ruse (2010) Science and Spirituality. Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science, Cambridge University Press, Hardcover: 264 pages.
  • Michael Ruse (2011) Alvin Plantinga and Intelligent Design, The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 14, 2011, 10:22 am

Reviews of other books of Ruse


 
guestbook (moderated) home: Towards the Third Evolutionary Synthesis http://home.planet.nl/~gkorthof/korthof9.htm  
Copyright © 1998 G.Korthof . First published: 21 Jan 1998 Last update: 21 Oct 2009 F.R.: 15 Dec 2011