Shermer versus Nelson at Penn State, Thursday, September 20

_{Paul Nelson

September 17, 2007

Intelligent Design}

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Michael Shermer Stucky the raccoon

That’s me on the right, trying to climb back up into the rafters of the Nelson house garage. (Photo credit: Hannah Nelson.)

Oh, you wanted information about the Shermer/Nelson debate at Penn State-Altoona? Go here.

Comments

Good turnout -- the 400 seat auditorium was nearly full -- and excellent Q & A, with questions being about evenly divided between Michael and me. Michael and I have been friends for many years, so the audience didn't see much in the way of personal ridicule (although Michael does have a lot of cartoons mocking "creationism" in his talk, and I was unsparing in my condemnations of the incoherence of naturalism). Afterwards, we both talked with a large group of audience members in the foyer for some time. Michael's main argument was that ID doesn't tell science anything that it didn't already know, and thus leads nowhere. I argued that, on the contrary, there is plenty of evidence (in biology) best explained by design, or at least for which design is a leading candidate, but that naturalism stands in the way of our further exploring design possibilities. The Q & A then ranged all over the field: fossils, testability of ID, our personal motivations, first cause arguments, you name it. Most of the audience was still there, with questions waiting, when the moderator called the evening to a close.Paul Nelson_{September 22, 2007
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So, how did the debate go?ninjapirate_{September 21, 2007
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Will someone please take notes and give us a full report?Jack Golightly_{September 17, 2007
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For those outside the region, will it be recorded?Robo_{September 17, 2007
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Biological evidence for Darwinism? You mean other than disease and degradation? Darwinism is all about philosophical presuppositions.Joseph_{September 17, 2007
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Is this debate about the biological evidence for/against Darwinism or is this about the PHILOSOPHICAL presuppositions underlying methodological naturalism ?SeekAndFind_{September 17, 2007
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So when does your new book come out?geoffrobinson_{September 17, 2007
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