In hmolscience, Phillip Johnson (1940-) is an American law professor noted for []
Overview
In circa 1988, Johnson went through a divorce, after which he became a born-again Christian, and went on sabbatical in England and sought, through prayer, inspiration for what he should do with the rest of his existence; during which time, while reading atheist Richard Dawkins’ The Blind Watch Maker (1986) and theist Michael Denton’s Evolution: a Theory in Crisis (1985), he felt that as a law professor he might add something to the debate, being that:
“Something about the Darwinists' rhetorical style, made me think they had something to hide.”
— Philip Johnson (c.1988), retrospect on reading Dawkins’ The Blind Watchmaker [2]
In 1991, Johnson published his Darwin on Trial, wherein he attempted to pick away at Darwinism and and what he called "scientific materialism" (as opposed to "spiritual materialism", supposedly), not from a theoretical point of view, but from their word use: [3]
“I approach the creation-evolution dispute not as a scientist but as a professor of law, which means among other things that I know something about the ways that words are used in arguments.”
In 1997, Johnson, in his Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, described his “wedge strategy” for getting creationism, or intelligent design, teaching into public schools: [1]
“If we understand our own times, we will know that we should affirm the reality of god by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind. With the assistance of many friends I have developed a strategy for doing this. We call our strategy the ‘wedge’.”
In Mar 2002, the Ohio Board of Education passed legislation to move (Ѻ) to have creationism or intelligent design, per initiative of the Discover Institute, taught alongside evolution, and to publications of creationists, such as Johnson's Darwin on Trial (1991). This sparked the Rennie creationism fiasco (2002-2003).
Education
Johnson completed his BA in English literature at Harvard in 1961 then completed his JD in 1965 graduating in the top of his class at the University of Chicago, and from 1967 to 2000 he was a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
References
1. (a) Johnson, Phillip E. (1997). Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (pg. 91-92). InterVarsity Press.
(b) Forrest, Barbara. (2001). “The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism is Wedging its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream” (Ѻ), in: Intelligent Design Creationism and its Critics. MIT Press.
2. Dembski, William A. (2006). Darwin’s Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement (forward: Rick Santorum). IVP Academic.
3. Johnson, Philip E. (1991). Darwin on Trial (introduction: Michael Behe) (pgs. 25-26). IVP Books, 2010.
External links
● Philip E. Johnson – Wikipedia.
