DARWINISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS:

By Michael Ruse

Michael Ruse (June 21, 1940- present) is an eminent philosopher of science, particularly the philosophy of biology. He is particularly noted for his work on the disagreements between creationism and evolution. He was born in England, did his undergraduate work at the University of Bristol, his master's degree at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and his PhD at the University of Bristol. For 35 years he taught at the University of Guelph, Ontario, and since his retirement he has taught at Florida State University where he is, since 2000, the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy. He was a witness for the plaintiff in the 1981 test case (McLean vs Arkansa) of the state law permitting the teaching of "creation science" in Arkansas. The federal judge in that case ruled that this was unconstitutional as it violated the separation of church and state. Ruse believes that it is possible to reconcile Christian religion with the facts of evolutionary biology. His academic output is tremendous. See his home page at http://www.fsu.edu/~philo/new%20site/staff/ruse.htm . Some of his books include

The Philosophy of Biology (1973)

Sociobiology:Sense or Nonsense (1979)

The Darwinian Revolution:Science Red in Tooth and Claw (1979)

Is Science Sexist ? And Other Problems in the Biomedical Sciences (1981)

Darwinism Defended: A Guide to the Evolution Controversies (1982)

Nature Animated (1980)

Taking Darwin Seriously:A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy (1986)

Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry (1988)

The Philosophy of Biology (2nd edition, 1989)

But is it Science? The Philosophical Question in the Evolution/Creation Controversy (1988)

Philosophy of Biology Today (1988)

What the Philosophy of Biology Is (1989)

The Darwinian Padadigm (1989)

Evolutionary Naturalism (1994)

Monad to Man:The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology (1996)

Biology and Ethics (1998)

Mystery of Mysteries:Is Evolution a Social Construction? (1999)

Can a Darwinian be a Christian ? The Relationship between Science and Religion (2001)

Readings in the Philosophy of Biology (1998)

The Evolution Wars:A Guide to the Controversies (2001)

Cloning (2001)

Of the Plurality of Worlds:An Essay by William Whewell (2001)

Genetically Modified Foods (2002)

Stem Cell Research (2003)

Debating design:Darwin to DNA (2004)

Darwin and Design:Does Evolution have a Purpose ? (2003)

Darwinian Heresies (2004)

A Darwinian Evolutionist's Philosophy (2004)

The Evolution/Creation Struggle (2005)

Darwinism and its Discontents (2006)

Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology (2007)

Harvard Companion to Evolution (2007)

Palaeontology at the High Table (2007)

Charles Darwin (2007)

Cambridge Companion to the Origin of Species (2008-upcoming)

Reflexions on the Origin of Species (2008-upcoming)

Some of the above are collections that Ruse is an editor of. Molly has just finished reading 'Darwinism and its Discontents' , an exploration of the rationale behind the Darwinian view of evolution as both a way of seeing the origin of species and the mechanism, natural selection, behind the changes that are embodied in evolution. ruse begins his book with a reply to both the religious critics of Darwinism and the pseudo-left of post-modernism. He extends his challenge to what is nowadays almost a dead letter, the evolutionary biologists such as Lewontin or Rose who, under the influence of Stalinism, tried to fight a rearguard action against the application of Darwinian ideas to humans. With the fall of the Soviet Empire and the conversion of China to capitalism with an inhuman face the proponents of this sort of obscurantism are pretty well restricted to the denizens of the American social science academy that are rapidly approaching retirement while clinging to the childish idea that Mao had some good in him. ruse closes his introduction with a preview of how he thinks Darwinism is important today.

More Later.

To be continued....Mollymew