Notwithstanding my deep philosophical disagreements with ID theorists, I do respect many of them and condemn the thuggish treatment they’ve gotten at the hands of certain Darwinians. So while browsing at the local Borders last night, I was dismayed to see that the esteemed Michael Behe’s books seem to have been relegated to what someone or other apparently regards as an intellectual ghetto, or at least a residence less exalted than “science.” Both Darwin’s Black Box and The Edge of Evolution had “Biology” printed on the category section of the price sticker, but this had been crossed out and replaced by hand with “Western Phil.” And that is where I found poor Prof. Behe – hanging out somewhere between Alain Badiou and George Berkeley. Having checked the Borders website, I can confirm that this was no prank pulled by some Darwinist customer. Behe has been unnaturally selected out of the “Biology” category; indeed, he isn’t even welcome in “General Science.”
Of course, from my point of view this is an upgrade, since metaphysics is the queen of the sciences. But I hardly think it was meant that way. An ideological statement by the Borders higher-ups? Just askin’.
(I remember years ago finding in another Borders that every copy they had of John Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime, a trade paperback, had been mispriced at a jaw-dropping $120 – not hand-written either, but “officially” printed out on the price sticker. An attempt on the part of some crazed leftist employee to discourage purchase of said book? Or just a glitch? Again, just askin’.)
Comments (6)
I'd sort of like to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where the re-categorization of Behe's books took place. It would have made interesting listening.
Posted by Lydia | January 25, 2009 9:15 PM
An insult to Badiou and Berkeley.
Posted by Mike | January 25, 2009 10:20 PM
So many Darwinians are such bad winners. It's almost enough - sometimes - to make me wish that they were wrong.
Posted by steve burton | January 25, 2009 10:57 PM
Steve, you're right. One would think the Darwinists would be so busy sifting through all the mountains of evidence supporting macro-evolution that they would have no time to bother with a handful of refusniks.
Posted by George R. | January 26, 2009 8:25 AM
If we still called it natural philosophy, these sorts of problems would go away. Well, some of us still do call it such!
Posted by Joseph | January 30, 2009 7:59 PM
Mayhap they charitably intended to place Behe in proximity to his soulmate, Bishop Berkeley?
Posted by Russell Seitz | January 31, 2009 7:11 PM