Darwin on Trial
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| Author | Phillip E. Johnson |
|---|---|
| Published | 1991 (InterVarsity Press) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 28889094 |
| 575 20 | |
| LC Class | QH367.3 .J65 1993 |
Darwin on Trial is a 1991 book about the theory of evolution and the creation-evolution debate by Harvard graduate and University of California, Berkeley law professor emeritus Phillip E. Johnson. Because of the number of legal arguments based on science or scientific evidence, Johnson became interested in the presuppositions of scientific investigation and wrote the book with the thesis that evolution could be "tried" like a defendant in court. Darwin on Trial became a central text of the intelligent design movement principally fathered by Johnson.
Eugenie Scott wrote that, in her opinion, the book "teaches little that is accurate about either the nature of science, or the topic of evolution. It is recommended neither by scientists nor educators." But others disagree. Scott pointed out in a second review that "the criticisms of evolution [Johnson] offers are immediately recognizable as originating with the "scientific" creationists".
Johnson, a professor emeritus of law at University of California, Berkeley and a Christian, describes his specialty as "analyzing the logic of arguments and identifying the assumptions that lie behind those arguments". After reading Michael Dentons' Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985) and Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker (1986), he came to believe that the scientific theory of evolution was based on materialistic assumptions and empty rhetoric, and decided to analyze the evidence for the theory. He states that he has no interest in discussing the Biblical account of creation in Genesis. Rather, Darwin on Trial focuses on examining whether evolutionary biologists have proven their case using evidence evaluated with an "open mind and impartially", and whether there is convincing evidence that the variety of life on earth came about through the purely material processes of natural selection.
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