Intelligent Design may simply be another and newer form of age-old creationism, but it's been one of the more popular and successful forms of creationism. It has managed to get positive attention from Christians working in a variety of academic fields and the scientific-sounding language used by its apologists helps many other Christians imagine that they have found a secure rationalization both for their theism and their denial of naturalistic science. It's all empty pretense, though.
Summary
Title: God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory
Author: Niall Shanks
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195161998
Pro:
• Solid glossary and bibliography
• Very readable text, despite the scientific complexity of the subject
• Explains how complexity and self-organization can develop naturally
Con:
• None
Description:
• Analysis of all the flaws and problems in Intelligent Design theory
• Explains how Intelligent Design is not only bad as science, but also as philosophy
• Explains problems with all "design" arguments generally
Book Review
As with other forms of pseudoscience, genuine scientists are caught in a bit of a bind: any serious critique or engagement means giving these ideas far more credibility than they deserve, but simply ignoring them allows them to fester and grow beyond all reasonable bounds. There's no good option, but engagement of some kind is probably the lesser of two evils â€" at least so long as the engagement produces good results. Not every scientist or author is capable of writing a critique of Intelligent Design even if they really know the subject of evolution very well.
Fortunately, there are some sound book-length critiques of what Intelligent Design creationism says, what its apologists argue, how it is defended, and its place in contemporary America. One of the better and more readable works is God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory, by Niall Shanks. A professor in the History and Philosophy of Science at Wichita State University, Shanks doesn't just address the pseudoscientific arguments on behalf of creationism, but also the pseudophilosophical arguments on behalf of the "argument to design" which lies behind creationism and which has long been popular with theists.
What this means is that Shanks' book is a detailed and general critiques of all efforts to use "complexity" and perceived "design" in the universe to justify belief in a creator god. Intelligent Design may be the overall focus of the book and the most popular form of this argument today, but it's an old argument which comes in many different guises. Shanks shows how the basic argument goes back to Aristotle and how the current arguments are structured along the same lines as those offered by Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas. Even if Intelligent Design were completely dismantled tomorrow, the same ideas would reorganize and reappear very soon.
Even though the basic argument of Intelligent Design is both old and unscientific, it is usually formulated in ways that look sophisticated and can be difficult to readily refute. Shanks, though, has not only the relevant knowledge but also the ability to communicate it to lay readers. After reading this book, it should be much easier to address the sorts of Intelligent Design arguments that often pop up in discussions about evolution and the existence of God.
God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory
Image Courtesy PriceGrabber Equally interesting and important is Shanks' explanation for how natural systems can self-organize and thereby produce the sort of complexity we see around us in the universe as well as in living organisms. The idea that organization and complexity cannot occur naturally lies at the heart of nearly all arguments from design, whether philosophical in nature or pseudoscientific as in creationist writings. Bees don't need a "higher intelligence" to build a hive and markets don't need to be guided by such an intelligence in order to produce efficient exchanges of goods and services.
This won't be the last book on Intelligent Design nor will this book cause all apologists for Intelligent Design to clean out their desks and find more intellectually honest work. In principle, though, this book should be adequate to not only refute all the current arguments being offered in defense of Intelligent Design, but any arguments that are likely to come up in the future. If you only get one book to understand what's wrong with Intelligent Design, you won't likely find better than this.
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