Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain

Intelligent Design Theory and other ideological problems

Recent claims that Intelligent Design Theory is scientifically respectable and that it ought, therefore, to be taught alongside the Darwinian Theory of Evolution in school science programmes have provoked fierce argument amongst Christian groups, academics and educationists both in the UK and USA. In this pamphlet Mary Midgley provides a detailed account of the controversy surrounding Intelligent Design Theory. She traces the emergence of Creationism in the USA and shows how Intelligent Design Theory was taken up by fundamentalists as a way of ensuring a Biblical presence in American school science programmes when the teaching of Creationism was blocked by the courts. She presents a powerful case against the theory and at the same time shows that dogmatism and ideology can be found on both sides of the controversy. Midgley argues that the challenges of fundamentalism should be rigorously confronted and proposes radical changes in the training and practice of science and religious studies teachers to enable them to deal with the specific challenge of Intelligent Design Theory. Her major aim is to prevent students leaving school 'as either bigoted fundamentalists or bigoted atheistical pseudo-Darwinists'.

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