Creationism and Intelligent Design
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he name DGGTB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie Deutsche Gesellschaft für der Biologie; German Society for the History and Philosophy of Biology) reflT ects recent history as well as German tradition. The Society is a relatively Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie late addition to a series of German societies of science and medicine that began with the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften”, founded in 1910 by Leipzig University’s Karl Annals of the History Sudhoff (1853-1938), who wrote: “We want to establish a ‘German’ society in order to gather German-speaking historians together in our special and Philosophy of Biology disciplines so that they form the core of an international society…”. Yet Sudhoff, at this time of burgeoning academic internationalism, was “quite Volume 19 (2014) willing” to accommodate the wishes of a number of founding members and “drop the word German in the title of the Society and have it merge formerly Jahrbuch für with an international society”. The founding and naming of the Society at Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie that time derived from a specifi c set of historical circumstances, and the same was true some 80 years later when in 1991, in the wake of German Elizabeth Watts reunifi cation, the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie” was founded. From the start, the Society has been committed Analysis of Creationism in the United States to bringing studies in the history and philosophy of biology to a wide from Scopes (1925) to Kitzmiller (2005) and its audience, using for this purpose its Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Theorie Effect on the Nation’s Science Education System der Biologie. Parallel to the Jahrbuch, the Verhandlungen zur Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie has become the by now traditional medium for the publication of papers delivered at the Society’s annual meetings. In 2005 the Jahrbuch was renamed Annals of the History and Philosophy of Annals of the History and Philosophy Biology, Vol. 19 (2014) Biology, refl ecting the Society’s internationalist aspirations in addressing comparative biology as a subject of historical and philosophical studies. DGGTB ISBN: 978-3-86395-339-3 ISSN: 1863-0197 Universitätsverlag Göttingen Universitätsverlag Göttingen Manuscripts should be submitted to the managing editor. Submissions will be peer reviewed. Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology, Volume 19 (2014) The preferred language is English. Articles in German should be accompanied by a short Elizabeth Watts: Analysis of Creationism in the United States from Scopes (1925) (max. 1000 words) summary in English. to Kitzmiller (2005) and its Effect on the Nation’s Science Education System Managing Editor Contents Dr. Christian Reiß Professur für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 7 Universität Regensburg Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 9 93040 Regensburg List of Tables and Figures .........................................................................................12 Germany Email: [email protected] Foreword .................................................................................................................. 17 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 19 Editors Understanding the Conflict: science, religion and the United States ....................... 25 Uwe Hoßfeld, Jena, Germany Creationism and Intelligent Design .......................................................................... 87 Lennart Olsson, Jena, Germany Examining the Legal Conflict ................................................................................ 125 Christian Reiß, Regensburg, Germany Examining the conflict and its effect on education ................................................ 163 Editorial Board Beyond Borders: post-Kitzmiller, free-choice learning and creationism Ingo Brigandt, Edmonton, Canada outside the US ............................................................................................. 203 Ariane Dröscher, Bologna, Italy Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 265 Eve-Marie Engels, Tübingen, Germany Afterword ............................................................................................................... 279 Gabriel W. Finkelstein, Denver, USA Literature ................................................................................................................ 281 Nick Hopwood, Cambridge, UK List of Appendices ................................................................................................. 303 Thomas Junker, Frankfurt/Main, Germany Ulrich Kutschera, Kassel, Germany Index ..................................................................................................................... 328 Georgy S. Levit, Kassel, Germany Comment: Creationism and Intelligent Design: Dogmatic concepts that will Amos Morris-Reich, Haifa, Israel not go away ................................................................................................. 337 Staffan Müller-Wille, Exeter, UK Kärin Nickelsen, Munich, Germany Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Berlin, Germany Robert Richards, Chicago, USA Marsha L. Richmond, Detroit, USA Nicolaas A. Rupke, Lexington, USA Hans-Konrad Schmutz, Zürich/Winterthur, Switzerland Michal Simunek, Prague, Czech Republic Georg Töpfer, Berlin, Germany David M. Williams, London, UK Volker Wissemann, Gießen, Germany Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie (Ed.) Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Vol. 19 (2014) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology; Volume 19 (2014) Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2018 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie (Ed.) Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Vol. 19 (2014) Elizabeth Watts Analysis of Creationism in the United States from Scopes (1925) to Kitzmiller (2005) and its Effect on the Nation’s Science Education System Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2018 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Address of the author Elizabeth Watts Research Group for Biology Education Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research Faculty of Biological Sciences Friedrich Schiller University Jena Am Steiger 3, Bienenhaus 07743 Jena Germany Email: [email protected] This is a revised version of Watts’ doctoral dissertation that was submitted to the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2016 to fulfill the requirements for the degree of doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.). Managing Editor of the Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Dr. Christian Reiß Professur für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Universität Regensburg 93040 Regensburg Germany Email: [email protected] Cover Picture: Friedrich Besemann: Leinekanal mit akademischem Museum und Graetzelhaus. Aquarellierte Federzeichung 1860. Graphische Sammlung des Städtischen Museums Göttingen Layout: Elizabeth Watts Cover Design: Kilian Klapp, Maren Büttner © 2018 Universitätsverlag Göttingen https://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISBN: 978-3-86395-339-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2018-1065 eISSN: 2512-5923 For Zoey – my thunder & joy Acknowledgements If a student is lucky, they may be fortunate enough to receive one good advisor. In my case, I was doubly blessed. My sincerest thanks goes to my exceptional “Doktorvater”, Prof. Dr. Uwe Hoßfeld, and my gifted secondary advisor, Dr. Georgy Levit, for supporting me with their endless wealth of knowledge on the subject and for fortifying my interest in the subject throughout my studies. It was a true pleasure and honor to work with the both of them. I would also like to thank my parents, who blazed the trail, instilling in me a love for science from a very early age and for later providing me with encourage- ment and jubilation along the path to my own dissertation. Last, a heartfelt thank you to David – my best friend & the ultimate yin to my yang. Abstract Creationism is based on a fundamental belief in the inerrancy of the bible and nega- tively affects science education because creationist proponents insist on the inclu- sion of supernatural explanations for the appearance of species, in particular the origin of humans. This detrimental effect on education is particularly relevant in the United States, where almost 70% of the population rejects the idea of naturalistic evolution and the majority of American students struggle to meet the college- readiness benchmarks in science and math. This dissertation provides a comprehen- sive look at the issue from historical, judicial and educational perspectives. Twenty- four legal cases in the United States regarding anti-evolutionary strategies were ana- lyzed in detail. Strategic trends were identified ranging from the statewide banning of evolution in public schools to the required teaching of Creation Science. The exact effect of creationist political activity was