Наука против религии? Разумный замысел и проблема эволюции

Science v. Religion? Intelligent Design and the Problem of Evolution

In the contemporary debate over creationism Steve Fuller is best known for his "expert" testimony at the 2005 Dover, Pennsylvania creationism trial during which he defended the teaching of Intelligent Design (ID) creationism in science classes in public high schools in the United States. Fuller argued that much of Western science has its roots in traditional ID and, therefore, modern ID creationism belongs in science curricula. According to Fuller neither ID's proponents, let alone its scientific critics, truly appreciate its significance for the development of science: modern science is supposed to be fundamentally based on the idea of Intelligent Design. Fuller apparently thinks that this historical claim has the normative implication that science should continue to embrace ID. The book under review is an elaboration of these arguments though it also traipses, somewhat unsteadily, into the legal territory that was demarcated by Judge Jones' resounding rejection of ID's claim to be anything other than religious dogma masquerading as science.

Fuller has a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science, but his appointment is in the sociology department at the University of Warwick; philosophers should presumably approach his work with an attempt at charity. This is not easy. The book consists of a largely content-free Introduction, five substantive chapters, and a Conclusion. The first, historical chapter tries to reinterpret the traditional religion-science dispute as one over social authority, between church and state. The second, "ideological" chapter attempts to show that modern science emerged from an attempt by humanity to transcend itself and reach god. The third chapter turns to complexity, the emphasis on which is supposed to distinguish ID from "other versions of creationism" (p. 69). (I will happily follow Fuller in explicitly construing ID as a form of creationism but I doubt that most ID proponents will be quite as accommodating on this point.) Strangely, the third chapter barely mentions the arguments about complexity pushed by prominent ID creationists such as Michael Behe and William Dembski. Rather, it ranges over a variety of extraneous issues, including the significance of Thomas Kuhn, the possibility that humans may be completing god's plan, the claim that complexity increases in the course of the history of science.