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Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with E
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The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism |
Author: Michael J. Behe
Published: 2007-06-05 |
List price: $28.00
Our price: $10.55
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As of: November 22nd, 2008 12:43:02 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Evidence for design
Detailed information outlining evidence against random events and therefore pro-design in the universe.
The author demonstrates the limits of Darwinian evolution.
 Behe Is a Creationist in Disguise
This book has NO scientific merit whatsoever. I'd give it zero stars if possible, but it's not. As Behe himself admitted at the famed Dover trial, "intelligent design" has no working scientific theory to build off of, as evolution does. Intelligent design cannot be tested, ID proponents do not submit their "research" for peer review (gee, I wonder why) and no one in the actual scientific community acknowledges it as a working theory. Instead, it is merely creationism in disguise as was manifested in the Dover trial by the reading of the original draft of the book "Of Pandas and People" which showed that the new edition had switched out, multiple times, the word creation for "intelligent design."
Unfortunately this book will appeal to creationists who don't understand the fact of evolution, which is sad. I would recommend reading "Only a Theory" if you're interested in understanding why ID is merely a bankrupt idea being pushed by a movement (led by Behe) that seeks to undermine the rational, empirical institution of science that has made this country great.
Books like this will have the whole world laughing at the magnitude of our ignorance, which is warranted considering that America now comes out second only to backward, superstitious Turkey with a majority of people not believing in evolution.
The disenlightenment is here. Be very afraid.
 The Soul and Intelligent Design
In the United States, the public face of the science of intelligent design (ID) is an advocacy movement to change the way evolution is taught. Michael Behe is one of the leaders of the movement because of his concept of the irreducible complexity of molecular machinery (Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution). In this latest book he distances himself from this movement to a certain extent:
"...I spend the bulk of the chapters drawing on molecular evidence, genomic research, and--above all--crucial long-term studies of evolutionary changes in single-celled organisms to test Darwinism without regard to conclusions of design. ... As I will argue, mathematical probabilities and biochemical structures cannot support Darwinism's randomness, except at the margins of evolution. Still, as we seek to find the line marking the edge of randomness, there is no need to infer design." (p. 8)
The organisms are malaria and the HIV virus, which have evolved defenses against man-made drugs. Despite the huge numbers of organisms and cell divisions observed, there has been no build-up of molecular machinery. Behe likens these observations to the famous experiment in 1887 proving that light propagated in a vacuum, not a luminiferous ether. The ether had to behave like a solid for electric fields and behave like a gas for planets, but it was a good theory at the time.
The book makes the case against Darwinian evolution so strongly that biologist will have to come to grips with ID someway. Biology has been able to avoid the question of the evolution of the human soul because it is understood that evolution only applies to the bodies of human beings. This cannot be explicitly stated because the very concept of the "body of a human being" is an existential or metaphysical concept, not a scientific concept. The following quote by a famous authority on evolution and an outspoken secular humanist proves this point:
"Catholics could believe whatever science determined about the evolution of the human body, so long as they accepted that, at some time of his choosing, God had infused the soul into such a creature. I also knew that I had no problem with this statement, for whatever my private beliefs about souls, science cannot touch such a subject and therefore cannot be threatened by any theological position on such a legitimately and intrinsically religious issue." (Stephen Jay Gould, "Nonoverlapping Magisteria," Natural History, March 1997, 13th paragraph)
Gould is mistaken in calling the soul a "religious issue." That God will save our souls is a religious belief, but that we have souls is a metaphysical or existential truth. The statement that human beings do not have souls is also a metaphysical statement, not a scientific statement. (I sure Gould's "private beliefs" don't make any sense. Humans have souls because they are embodied spirits. Humans are embodied spirits because they are indefinabilities. Humans are indefinabilities because free will and conscious knowledge can't be defined. Of course, Gould may think free will is an illusion, but he knows that this point of view would make him look foolish in some circles.)
However, biologists cannot continue to ignore the observations about the evolution of malaria and the complexity of multicellular life. The solution can't be to consider the possibility of a designer because this would fail to keep science separate from existentialism. But the time has come for biologist to incorporate the concept of design and William Dembski's concept of specified complexity (The Design Revolution: Answering The Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design) into their understanding of evolution.
Can you see the forest?
This book makes clear that huge population numbers must be present for even marginally beneficial mutations to occur. Behe does this primarily by following the "war" between man and malaria. The best pure Darwinian evolution has done for man is to break some human functionality in order to stymie this disease. Of course, purist evolutionists (primarily atheists) will continue to argue that random mutations are responsible for all the diversity of life that exists on our grand cosmic "mistake", which will eventually go down as the worst case of not seeing the forests through the trees in human history. Behe lays out the forest quite well, but critics will complain about a few missing or misplaced trees.
Rescuing Science from Materialist Philosophy
This book is an excellent follow up to Darwin's Black Box. Both books seek to rescue science from materialist philosophy and do an excellent job. It was interesting to read this book next to Anthony Flew's "There Is A God" (also published in 2007). Flew, a brilliant philosopher and longtime opponent of theism, has embraced the existence of God based on evidence similar to that which Behe presents for intelligent design. Behe's books have drawn the ire of the Darwinist establishment, but his arguments are well reasoned and his evidence is sound. Read his books and decide for yourself. He deserves to be read carefully and with an open mind. Written for the lay reader, anyone who remembers some of their high school biology will have little trouble benefiting from the book.
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