Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Evolution Quackery 1: Wrong classification!

As I was browsing through the library's books around 576 in the Dewey system - Evolution - I came across yet another book that offered a challenge. One of those books that says "Darwin got it wrong" or "the failure of evolution theory".

I rifled through it, but found that all its references were to the Bible; there were no references to scientific sources.

I left a note for the librarian, and later got a call back. She agreed with me that it was incorrectly classified, and said it would get filed under religion. She wanted to cross reference it to evolution, but by that point I wasn't going to argue the toss.

Dewey 576 is a scientific classification. It is not religion, philosophy or religious philosophy.


I am keen to read well-sourced books that refute some aspect of current evolutionary theory. There is no requirement to conform to current theory: paradigm shifts come from challenges to orthodoxy. This is how knowledge is advanced and refined.

But that book was not about science.


This is a simple case. To follow are some less trivial examples of misguided attempts at anti-science.

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