|
|
|
|
« MRP Home |
 |
Visit the Critique of Intelligent Design website |
|
ISBN: |
Critique of Intelligent DesignMaterialism versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present by John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York Finally we have a book on so-called ‘intelligent design’ that gets to the heart of the matter rather than devoting all its energies to a point by point refutation of that doctrine. While providing a sophisticated modern understanding of the complexities of organisms and the biological processes that have resulted in life as it has evolved, the authors of Critique of Intelligent Design never lose sight of the real issue which is the struggle between materialism and supernaturalism as an explanation for the world of phenomena. Theirs is the model on which all discussions of intelligent design should be based. This superb history of philosophical materialism argues for its indispensability as the answer to the ideology of ‘intelligent design’: its authors make the point that the latter is not merely a local tactic in the service of political reaction, but that religion itself is fundamentally incompatible with progressive politics. At a time when all kinds of religious assertions are allowed to pass unchallenged, this book is an invigorating blast of fresh air. What can a Marxist critique of 'intelligent design’ do that the flood of non-Marxist atheist works on this subject cannot? The short answer is that it can show how this new/old form of ideology functions inside our modern capitalist society (systemic critique), and it can show how it has developed over time as part of the debate between materialist and idealist views of the world (historical critique). The long answer can be found in the detailed and scholarly manner in which this project has been carried out in the volume before us. Without this double contextualization, you may be able to judge whether 'intelligent design’ is true or false, but you will never know its 'meaning.’ A brilliant scholarly achievement that no one interested in the subject—or in how to analyze this kind of subject—can afford to miss. In combating the new creationism repackaged as intelligent design, it is not enough to refute particular misunderstandings about chance, complexity, or natural selection. ID is part of an offensive against materialism and humanism aimed at imposing a Christian fundamentalist culture congruent with the needs of a declining empire. Critique of Intelligent Design places the debate in its broadest context and historical roots from Epicurus on up, in a vigorous defense of a materialist view of nature that rejects the tepid compromise that would simply divide the turf into domains of science and religion. Is the Teaching of Evolution to Be Banned in U.S. Public Schools? Is Science Once More to be Burned on the Cross? Will Creationism Win the 2,500 Year War with Materialism and Reason? A critique of religious dogma historically provides the basis for rational inquiry into the physical and social world. Critique of Intelligent Design is a key to understanding the forces of irrationalism challenging the teaching of evolution in U.S. public schools and seeking to undermine the natural and social sciences. It illuminates the 2,500 year evolution of the materialist critique—the explanation of the world in terms of itself— from antiquity to the present through engaging the work of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lucretius, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, David Hume, William Paley, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Stephen Jay Gould, and numerous others (including contemporary advocates of ‘intelligent design’). Proponents of intelligent design—creationism in a more subtle guise—have recently reignited the age-old war between materialism and creationism, in which they claim to elevate their doctrine to empirical truth and thus incorporate it into science curricula. They attack modern science, advancing a pseudo-scientific view and a reactionary political culture in line with their theology and what they perceive as a knowable moral order. They single out for criticism the greatest modern representatives of materialist-scientific thought: Darwin, Marx, and Freud. Critique of Intelligent Design is a direct reply to the criticisms of intelligent design proponents and a compelling account of the long debate between materialism and religion in the West. It provides an overview of the contemporary fight concerning nature, science, history, morality, and knowledge. Separate chapters are devoted to the design debate in antiquity, the Enlightenment and natural theology, Marx, Darwin, and Freud, and to current scientific debates over evolution and design. It offers empowering tools to understand and defend critical and scientific reasoning in both the natural and social sciences and society as a whole. John Bellamy Foster is editor of Monthly Review. He is professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and author of Naked Imperialism, Ecology Against Capitalism, Marx’s Ecology, and The Vulnerable Planet. Brett Clark is assistant professor of sociology at North Carolina State University. Richard York is associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. He is coeditor of the journal Organization & Environment.
MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS  |
|
