Robert T. Pennock
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Robert T. Pennock is a philosopher now working on the Avida digital organism project at Michigan State University where he is an associate professor. Pennock received his Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1997, he co-directed a National Science Foundation Chautauqua Workshop on the "Ethical Implications of the Human Genome Project." Pennock has served as president of the University of Texas at Austin Chapter of Sigma Xi[link] and is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the National Center for Science Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He has written many books and articles critical of intelligent design, using the term methodological naturalism to emphasise that that the scientific method inherently explains observable events in nature only by natural causes, without assuming the existence or non-existence of the supernatural, and is not based on dogmatic metaphysical naturalism as claimed by creationists. His testimony as an expert witness[link] at the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District was by Judge John E. Jones III as evidence that "Methodological naturalism is a “ground rule” of science today which requires scientists to seek explanations in the world around us based upon what we can observe, test, replicate, and verify" contributing to the conclusion "that ID is an interesting theological argument, but that it is not science".
Books
- Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism ISBN 026216180X, ISBN 0262661659
- Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives (editor) ISBN 0262162040, ISBN 0262661241
External links
- [Robert T. Pennock - Home Page at MSU]
- [Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics edited by Robert Pennock]
- [Built on Sand: The Collapsing Creationist Tower], Lecture by Robert Pennock to the Freethought Association
- [Supernaturalist Explanations and the Prospects for a Theistic Science or "How do you know it was the lettuce?"] Paper for "Naturalism, Theism and the Scientific Enterprise" Conference, March 1997, The University of Texas at Austin.
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