Letters

From the November 1997 issue

(Page 2 of 4)

Strauss wrote on a similar occasion: "In the last analysis [Plato's] writings cannot be used for any purpose other than for philosophizing. In particular, no social order and no party which ever existed or which ever will exist can rightfully claim Plato as its patron." (In "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, September 1946.) Mr. Bailey should have considered whether Strauss observed the same principle in his own writings.

Compared to the original, Bailey's account of Strauss's work is superficial and misleading, not to say specious.

Alan E. Johnson
Cleveland, OH

Ronald Bailey's "Origin of the Specious" has left me puzzled. After reading it, I am in serious doubt as to whether Mr. Bailey has read the books by Michel Denton and Michael Behe that he discusses.

Bailey focused on the motives of those who question Darwinism. Motives, like what happened before the Big Bang, are scientifically unknown and unknowable. It may be fun to argue about motives, but facts are facts and erroneous statements are erroneous regardless of the motives of the person presenting them.

Bailey doesn't deal with the crowning arguments of Denton's and Behe's books. He gives no reasoned refutation of Denton's presentation about homologous proteins in different species, evidence which strongly argues against a Darwinian evolutionary progression from simple to complex forms of life. Since these protein molecules are direct mirrors of sections of DNA, this is tantamount to a proof that the DNA sequences do not follow a linear progression from simple to complex life forms--a progression which would be expected if Darwinism were true.

Bailey similarly failed to give a plausible presentation of how any of Behe's examples of "irreducible complexity" could have arisen by gradual, step-by-step mutation and natural selection. This is no particular slam against Mr. Bailey, since no other evolutionist has been able to explain them either. Modern evolutionary theory lacks major pieces of evidence: First, at the macro level, the fossil record is consistently devoid of the gradual transitional forms predicted by Darwin. Second, at the molecular level, we find exactly the same obstacles, gaps, and discontinuities as at the macro level. In fact, the biochemical chasms are even harder to bridge than the gaps between species in the fossil record. Third, the mechanisms proposed to explain these discontinuities while still retaining basic Darwinian principles are themselves tautological. They offer only the vaguest suggestions as to how evolution might have progressed. Gould's "punctuated equilibrium" suggests that plants and animals evolved gradually (a bit faster than previously thought, but still gradually), but only in ways and places such that we could not observe evidence of their having done so! In any other branch of science, such desperate tautological fudging would be laughed off the stage.

Is this the best Darwinists can do? When faced with unanswerable challenges, they attack the motives of those who report these challenges--a classic case of "kill the messenger."

Eric J. Anderson
Ankeny, IA

Ronald Bailey ascribes hidden motives to conservatives' doubts about Darwin. A more plausible explanation is healthy, show-me skepticism. When told that all of life's staggering functional complexity is the result of a simple algorithm, should
a reasonable person be a) credulous, because that's what most evolutionary biologists believe, or b) skeptical, until shown convincing evidence of the power of natural selection? Bailey votes for a and begrudges the intransigence of others. Well, sure, for decades Darwinism has failed to explain the origin of life, flagella, intracellular transport, metabolism, the genetic code, cellular control mechanisms, embryological development, body plans, vision, feathers, etc. ad nauseam. But heck, that doesn't mean it won't explain them real soon--just ask any Darwinian.

Among other confusions, Bailey gets my critique of Darwinism wrong. He asserts that "Behe is addressing the origins problem," which he seems to take as the problem of the bare origin of life 4 billion years ago. (Bailey says the origin of life "is a question that scientists are only beginning to address in an organized manner." That will surprise Stanley Miller, whose famous experiment launched modern origin-of-life studies in 1953.) Since others had effectively criticized that subject, however, in my book Darwin's Black Box I concentrated on the many biochemical difficulties for Darwinism, like the origin of the cilium (which arose about 2 billion years after life started) and the blood clotting system (3.5 billion years after the first cellular life).

Further, I do not "more or less concede that Darwinian evolution occurred" once cellular systems were in place, if by that Bailey means I agree natural selection produced such wonders as the kidney or the flowthrough lung or echolocation. I state clearly (page 41 of my book) that we can't tell what caused those macroscopic systems if we don't first understand how molecular systems were produced. Given the breakdown of Darwinism at the molecular level, I am currently quite skeptical it can explain much about the further development of life.

Bailey questions whether others are letting their philosophy interfere with their judgment about a scientific theory. Perhaps he should ask himself the same question.

Michael J. Behe
Professor of Biochemistry
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA

Ronald Bailey replies: I much appreciate the comments of Timothy Sandefur and Barry Watts. Like Sandefur, I, too, am a great admirer of Thomas Jefferson. But reason isn't everything. We must avoid what F.A. Hayek called "constructivist rationalism."