Free PDF

Author : Blavatsky Helena
Title : Evolution and intelligent design in the secret doctrine The synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy
Year : *

Link download : Blavatsky_Helena_-_Evolution_and_intelligent_design_in_the_secret_doctrine.zip

Introduction. In December 2005, Middle District of Pennsylvania District Court Judge John E. Jones III ruled in Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District that the doctrine called “Intelligent Design” is not science, and therefore cannot be taught as an alternative explanation to scientific evolution theory. During the preceding year, the Dover Area School District board had approved a statement to be read in ninth grade biology classes that indicated there are flaws in the current theory of evolution, and that a textbook on intelligent design could be consulted in the school library. In resolving the ensuing litigation, Judge Jones found that intelligent design is not science, that, as presented in the textbook, it is disguised biblical creationism, that it is not a theory for which scientific evidence was gathered, and that showing that contemporary evolution theory is incomplete does not in itself constitute an alternative scientific theory. Judge Jones wisely refrained from asserting the truth of either evolution or intelligent design. He had no objection to teaching biblically rooted intelligent design in a philosophy class or elsewhere, but he barred its teaching in science classes. Judge Jones was especially concerned about the insistence by proponents of biblical intelligent design theories of the following either/or proposition: that either the modern version of Darwinian evolution is true, or biblical intelligent design is true. He flatly rejected this utterly false dichotomy, noting in his decision that there are other alternatives to both views. The compilation in the present volume presents a sweeping alternative to both contemporary evolutionary theory, with its insistence upon an ancestor common to the ape and the human race, and contemporary Christian creationism, with its insistence upon a special creation of each soul by a personal god. These highly philosophical views were first expressed in detail in The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, just as Darwinian theory was emerging as a serious rival to the mainstream Christian theology of 19th Century Europe and America. Needless to say, these topics quickly began to dominate the public discourse of that long‐gone era. Contemporary science seems to regard the belief that a personal god created the heavens and earth within the past 10,000 years as a deliberate surrendering of the intellect to superstition, and is justifiably indignant. In their eyes, it is mind boggling that, in the year 2006, 45% of the American population claims to hold such a belief in the face of the tremendous body of undeniable scientific facts about the age of this earth and its diverse fauna and flora that have existed upon it for millions of years. Many adherents of evolutionary theory regard this not as a triumph of faith, but as a failure of education. ...