[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Leader in the Voice for Intelligent Design
Who: Dr. Jonathan
Wells
Where: University of California, Berkeley
What: Developmental Biology with research in embryology and
evolution
How does the concept of intelligent design relate to your work?
Many features of living organisms are more easily understood if one
assumes that they are designed. A design-based paradigm would be good
for biology in at least two respects: (a) biologists would not have to
waste time trying to explain how organisms originated by random
variation and survival of the fittest; and (b) a design-based paradigm
would encourage the sort of top-down thinking which alone is capable of
discovering the laws of embryonic development (as classical
embryologists acknowledged, the end-point of development remains
constant even though the intervening pathways may vary, suggesting that
a reductionistic approach will not work).
What opportunities or opposition has your interest in intelligent
design presented?
The opposition which I have encountered so far has consisted mainly of
more-or-less polite disagreements at public lectures and academic
conferences. I was, however, denied a college biology teaching position
because (according to non-biology faculty members at the same college) I
advocate taking a broader approach to biological issues than Darwinian
reductionism permits. For example, I believe that if Darwinian arguments
AGAINST design are allowed in the science classroom, they should be
balanced with a presentation of the evidence FOR design.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]