Darwin on Trial: Encyclopedia II - Darwin on Trial - Criticisms

Darwin on Trial - Criticisms

Critics suggest that Johnson is neither impartial nor open-minded. Evolution is accepted by the vast majority of the scientific community, including many theists who regard intelligent design as pseudoscience. They argue that Johnson reiterates many creationist arguments that are simply false, uses a god of the gaps argument, relies on equivocation, presents straw man version of mainstream scientific thought, and generally uses typical lawyers' "tricks" of argumentation.

In his review in the July 1992 issue of Scientific American, Stephen Jay Gould, whose writings are quoted frequently in the book, complained that the book does not fully cite sources and employs poor chapter transitions; held up Theodosius Dobzhansky as a counterexample to Johnson's assertion that naturalism undergirds Darwinism; criticized Johnson's decision to include recombination as a form of mutation and his assessment of sexual selection as a relatively minor component of Darwinian theory in the late twentieth century; pointed out an error in the use of the term "polyploidy"; stated that Johnson incorrectly refers to Otto Schindewolf as a saltationist, "attacks" outdated statements of Simpson and Mayr, and fails to point out that Henry Fairfield Osborn corrected his own mistake regarding Nebraska Man; and stated that Johnson overlooks "self-organizing properties of molecules and other physical systems" that, in Gould's opinion, makes the self-assembly of RNA or DNA plausible. Also, in contrast to Johnson's positions in the book, Gould states that Darwinism's bringing together of "widely disparate information under a uniquely consistent explanation" implies that it is a successful theory, that amphibians have features that imply a "fishy past", and that the therapsid is a convincing example of macroevolution.

In an epilogue to the second edition of the book, Johnson denounces Gould's review as a "hatchet job" that did not accurately describe the book, and an "attempt to distract attention from the main line of argument" that the Darwinian theory evolution is an idea that is driven by a prior commitment to naturalism. In "research notes" in the second edition, Johnson provides answers to most of Gould's criticisms, but acknowledges that his use of "polyploidy" was indeed incorrect, the error having been missed by his "diligent scientific consultants"; it is corrected in the text.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Criticisms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki