Dr Paul Allen

Peter Medawar (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The natural sciences are empirical in their approach—in other words they rely on the application of observation and experiment in investigating the world. Yet empiricism refuses, as a matter of principle, to speculate about any realities beyond the observable world. Bas van Fraassen , a leading philosopher of science , makes this point clearly. To be an empiricist is to withhold belief in anything that goes beyond the actual, observable phenomena, and to recognize no objective modality in nature. To develop an empiricist account of science is to depict it as involving a search for truth only about the empirical world, about what is actual and observable … it must invoke throughout a resolute rejection of the demand for an explanation of the regularities in the observable course of nature by means of truths concerning a reality beyond what is actual and observable. This emphasis on what’s ‘actual and observable’ gives the sciences their d

Dawkins really believes (or at least really claims) that those who disagree with him are insane, deluded, intellectually perverse, and unintelligent. Evolution by natural selection is “the only game in town, the greatest show on Earth ,” asserts Richard Dawkins . We have come to expect claims like this from Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most famous defender of Darwinian evolution alive today.  Unlike many intellectuals, Dawkins manages to stay singularly focused and on message. He is the planet’s foremost evangelist for evolution, and he is absolutely certain that the evolutionary worldview is indeed “the only game in town.” He is clearly frustrated that so many dwellers of the Earth refuse to accept his message. In  The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolutio n, Dawkins sets out to present his most compelling case for evolution. He is — make no mistake — an ardent enthusiast for his argument. Seldom do we read a book written with such fervor and certitude, with an amaz