Robert T. Pennock is a

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

working on the Avida

digital organism A digital organism is a self-replicating computer program that mutates and evolves. Digital organisms are used as a tool to study the dynamics of Darwinian evolution, and to test or verify specific hypotheses or mathematical models of evolut ...

project at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

where he has been full professor since 2000. Pennock was a witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, testifying on behalf of the plaintiffs, and described how intelligent design is an updated form of

creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...

and not science, pointing out that the arguments were essentially the same as traditional creationist arguments with adjustments to the message to eliminate explicit mention of God and the Bible as well as adopting a postmodern deconstructionist language. Pennock also laid out the philosophical history of methodological and philosophical naturalism as they underpin to science, and explained that if intelligent design were truly embraced it would return Western civilization to a pre-

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

state.

Education and career

Pennock received his Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated summa cum laude. In 1997, he co-directed a National Science Foundation Chautauqua Workshop on the "Ethical Implications of the

Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

." Pennock has served as president of the University of Texas at Austin Chapter of Sigma Xi and is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the

National Center for Science Education The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding t ...

and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Writing and speaking

He has written and edited books and articles critical of intelligent design, using the term '' methodological naturalism'' to emphasise that the scientific method inherently explains observable events in nature only by natural causes, without assuming the existence or non-existence of the supernatural, and is not based on dogmatic

metaphysical naturalism Metaphysical naturalism (also called ontological naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism) is a philosophical worldview which holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles, and relations of the kind studied by ...

as claimed by creationists. He has also been a featured speaker at religious, freethinking, and atheist gatherings.

''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District''

Pennock testified as an expert witness at the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District was cited in the concluding memorandum by Judge

John E. Jones III John Edward Jones III (born June 13, 1955) is the 30th President at Dickinson College and a former United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Early life ...

as evidence that "Methodological naturalism is a “ground rule” of science today which requires scientists to seek explanations in the world around us based upon what we can observe, test, replicate, and verify" contributing to the conclusion "that ID is an interesting theological argument, but that it is not science".

Awards

In 2009 Pennock received the American Institute of Biological Sciences's Outstanding Service Award, given "in recognition of an individual's (or organization's) noteworthy service to the biological sciences". Pennock has also received the "Friend of Darwin Award" from the

. His book on creationism, ''Tower of Babel'', was nominated for a National Book Award and PEN Award, and was a finalist for the ForeWord Book-of-the-Year. Pennock has also won several awards for his essays and teaching, including the Michael R. Bennett Prize, the Templeton Prize for Exemplary Paper in Theology and the Natural Sciences, Apple for the Teacher Award, and a Templeton Science & Religion Course Award. In 2006 Pennock was elected to the

for "voicing the philosophical deficits in the pro-intelligent design argument and defending against its inclusion in science teaching" and in 2008 was designated a lifetime member of the National Research Council of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Books

*''Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism'' , *''Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives'' (editor) , *''An Instinct for Truth: Curiosity and the Moral Character of Science

References

External links

Home page
at MSU

Lecture by Robert Pennock to the Freethought Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennock, Robert T. 20th-century American philosophers Critics of creationism Michigan State University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Pittsburgh alumni 21st-century American philosophers