Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism Versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present - Softcover

Foster, John Bellamy; Clark, Brett W.; York, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1583671730 ISBN 13: 9781583671733

Publisher: Monthly Review Press,U.S., 2008

Synopsis

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 that seek to undermine the natural and social sciences. This book illuminates the historical evolution of the materialist critique - that is, explaining the world in terms of itself - from antiquity to the present through engaging the work of Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lucretius, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, David Hume, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Stephen Jay Gould, among others.Proponents of "intelligent design" - creationism in its contemporary guise - have reignited an age-old war in which they claim to elevate their doctrine to empirical truth and thus incorporate it into science curricula. They attack the modern scientific view elevating both a pseudo-scientific and -cultural renewal in line with their theological orientation and what they perceive as a knowable moral order." Critique of Intelligent Design" is a compelling account of the debate between materialism and religion as well as an overview of the contemporary fight concerning nature, science, history, morality, and knowledge. The authors demonstrate how historical materialism is a crucial social foundation from which to confront intelligent design. They provide a fascinating account of the development of science in opposition to the proponents of "received wisdom." "Critique of Intelligent Design" offers empowering tools to understand and defend critical and scientific reasoning.

About this title

About the Author

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. He is co-editor of Pox Americana, Hungry for Profit, Capitalism and the Information Age, and In Defense of History. BRETT CLARK received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oregon. RICHARD YORK is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon. He is co-editor of the journal Organization & Environment.

Edition details

• Publisher: Monthly Review Press,U.S.
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1583671730
• ISBN 13: 9781583671733
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160