NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/12/08
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A further problematic piece of legislation in Florida. And sad news of the deaths of Colin Groves and Jerry Fodor.
A NEW INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS BILL IN FLORIDA "A controversial new state law that makes it easier for Florida residents to challenge books used in public schools could get overhauled next year so those who dislike certain texts could also suggest replacements they find more appropriate," reports the Orlando Sentinel (December 1, 2017). Florida's House Bill 827, prefiled on November 28, 2017, would, if enacted, revise the procedures for adopting instructional materials to permit members of the public to recommend instructional materials for consideration by the state or their district school board, which would then be required to get in touch with the publisher of those materials and allow it to submit a bid for evaluation. The sole sponsor of HB 827, Byron Donalds (R-District 80), was the main sponsor of HB 989 in 2017, which, as NCSE previously reported, was intended to make it easier for creationists and climate change deniers to pester their local school districts. Supporters of the bill complained, "I have witnessed students being taught evolution as fact ... rather than theory ... I have witnessed children being taught that Global Warming is a reality." HB 989 was passed and enacted in 2017. According to the Associated Press (November 18, 2017), there have already been at least seven complaints filed, including a complaint in Brevard County that elementary school social studies textbooks are engaged in "blatant indoctrination" by asserting that global warming is caused by human activity, and a complaint in Nassau County challenging the teaching of evolution there. The chief of legal services for the Nassau County School District told the Sentinel that the passage of HB 827 could be burdensome for districts, adding, "It's troubling to me, for example, the notion that we're going to throw out to the general public … this option of challenging books. ... What expertise do I have to challenge some high school calculus book? ... Don't we have experts?” In a November 29, 2017, post at Florida Citizens for Science's blog, Brandon Haught suggested that Donalds is evidently "working closely with the creationist and climate change denying folks at the Florida Citizens Alliance" who supported HB 989 in 2017. He urged, "We need to follow this bill closely." For the Orlando Sentinel's story, visit: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/school-zone/os-florida-textbooks-instructional-materials-bill-20171130-story.html For the text of Florida's House Bill 827, visit: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0827__.docx&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0827&Session=2018 For the Associated Press's story (via the South Florida Times), visit: http://www.sfltimes.com/education/new-florida-law-expected-to-increase-textbook-challenges For Brandon Haught's post at Florida Citizens for Science's blog, visit: http://www.flascience.org/wp/?p=2985 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Florida, visit: https://ncse.com/news/florida COLIN GROVES DIES The eminent biological anthropologist Colin Groves died on November 30, 2017, at the age of 75, according to a press release from the Australian National University. The university described Groves as "one of the world's leading anthropologists and taxonomists who identified more than 50 species of animal during his career"; he specialized in the classification, variation, and evolution of living primates, the topic of his book Primate Taxonomy (2001). Along with Vratislav Mazák, he was the describer of Homo ergaster, sometimes regarded as a variety of Homo erectus. Groves was concerned about pseudoscientific belief in general, especially the danger posed to conservation by folk medical beliefs and "the baleful influence of creationism." In a 1996 article with the rococo title "From Ussher to Slusher, from Archbish to Gish: or, Not in a Million Years ...," originally published in Archaeology in Oceania, he excoriated young-earth creationism in no uncertain terms, concluding with a call to arms: "It is a great mistake to ignore the threat: it will not just go away, it must be countered. ... Scientists, but most especially archaeologists, are in the front line; we, not the artists or the politicians, are the ones with ammunition to stem the tide of creationist rubbish, and relegate it to Monty Python's Flying Circus where it belongs." His contributions to Reports of the NCSE included a 1999 article on Australopithecus garhi and a 2000 review of Patrick O'Connell's Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis. Groves was born in London, England, on June 24, 1942. He received his B.Sc. from University College London in 1963 and his Ph.D. at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1966. After a series of post-doctoral research and teaching appointments, he spent the remainder of his career at the Australian National University. He was a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and the honoree of a recent volume entitled Taxonomic Tapestries: The Threads of Evolutionary, Behavioural, and Conservation Research, edited by Alison M. Behie and Marc F. Oxenham (2015). For the Australian National University's press release, visit: http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/vale-emeritus-professor-colin-groves And for the cited articles by Groves, visit: http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/cgfromushertoslusher.htm https://ncse.com/library-resource/australopithecus-garhi-new-found-link https://ncse.com/library-resource/review-science-today-problems-genesis JERRY FODOR DIES The distinguished philosopher of mind Jerry Fodor died on November 29, 2017, at the age of 82, according to The New York Times (November 30, 2017). Often described as the leading philosopher of mind of his day, Fodor was particularly well-known for his contributions to the modularity of mind and the language of thought hypotheses. A prolific, provocative, and entertaining author, his books included The Modularity of Mind (1983), Psychosemantics (1986), The Elm and the Expert (1994), and The Mind Doesn't Work That Way (2000). Toward the end of his career, Fodor launched a philosophical attack on the theory of natural selection, arguing that talk about selection for traits relies on a metaphor that is ultimately insupportable: where there is no selector -- human, divine, or instantiated by natural law -- there is no selection for; accordingly, the theory of natural selection is unable to distinguish causally active traits from their mere correlates. Fodor aired the argument in the London Review of Books (2007), the journal Mind and Language (2008), and at book length in What Darwin Got Wrong (2010), coauthored with Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Criticism was not slow in coming, with philosophers such as Michael Ruse and Elliott Sober and biologists such as Jerry Coyne and Douglas Futuyma offering their objections -- to which Fodor, always a keen polemicist, responded. Throughout, Fodor disclaimed any intention of challenging evolution in the sense of common descent or of appealing to the supernatural in explanations of natural phenomena, a fact often unacknowledged by creationists applauding his attack on natural selection. Fodor was born in New York City on April 22, 1935. He received his A.B. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1956 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1960. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1959 to 1986, then at the City University of New York from 1986 to 1988, and then at Rutgers University from 1988 until his retirement in 2016. His honors included presidency of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2005-2006, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the first Jean Nicod Prize for philosophy of mind and cognitive philosophy. For the obituary in The New York Times, visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/obituaries/jerry-a-fodor-dead-philosopher-of-the-mind.html And for Fodor's article in the London Review of Books (and responses and counterresponses), visit: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/jerry-fodor/why-pigs-dont-have-wings WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Emily Schoerning reporting from the Northern Illinois Science Educators conference: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/11/when-teachers-get-what-they-need-0018654 For NCSE's blog, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join