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Friday, September 14, 2007

Intelligent design and popular culture: Where did terms like "intelligent design", "Darwinism" come from?

Here's a podcast from the Discovery Institute, with Rob Crowther tracing the history of the use of the term "intelligent design" back about 100 years. I wouldn't be surprised if it's older - but not much older. Words change their range of meanings over the centuries. Apparently, some people - desperate to keep Darwinism's books from getting balanced - want to claim that the term is not only of very recent vintage but was developed purely for political purposes. Not likely.

While we're here, another cute trick is to claim that only ID types use the term "Darwinism." Several earnest and unimaginative people have pestered me with that claim and refuse to be set straight by evidence of usage. Even Lyn Margulis hollering "I am a Darwinist" at the Evolution Summit has no effect on them. They seem to know "the truth", however it shifts and changes, and "the truth" shall keep them hapy, or anyway less worried.

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