Michael Behe
From Freepedia
Professor Michael J. Behe (born 1952) is a controversial American biochemist and intelligent design advocate. Behe is professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He is noted for advocating the idea that life is too complex at the biochemical level to have evolved, which he has termed "irreducible complexity".
Behe's concept of irreducible complexity has been rejected by most in the scientific community, many of whom consider it to be creationist pseudoscience.
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Biography
Behe graduated from Drexel University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry. He did his graduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1978 for his dissertation research on sickle-cell disease. From 1978 to 1982 he did postdoctoral work on DNA structure at the National Institutes of Health. From 1982 to 1985 he was assistant professor of chemistry at Queens College in New York City, where he met his wife. In 1985 he moved to Lehigh University.
Behe, a Christian, once fully accepted the scientific theory of evolution. However, Behe came to believe that there was evidence that, at a biochemical level, there were systems that were "irreducibly complex". These were systems that he thought could not have evolved by natural selection in principle, and thus must have been created by an "intelligent designer".
Lawyer Phillip E. Johnson had coined the phrase intelligent design in 1991 to describe what he saw as evidence that life had been designed. However, critics consider it to be a religiously motivated attempt to bring theology into science. In 1996 Behe became a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (later renamed the Center for Science and Culture) the then newly-formed institution to promote intelligent design.
Behe published his ideas on irreducible complexity in a 1996 book called Darwin's Black Box. Some critics claim that Behe's arguments and examples are based on personal incredulity, rather than the actual impossibility of explanation by natural processes. Furthermore, they assert that he deliberately aimed the publication of this book at the general public in order to gain maximum publicity while avoiding any peer-reviews from fellow scientists. While his lectures promote his book and theory, they do not include much tangible empirical testing or scientific data. Nor has he published any academic research in peer-reviewed mainstream scientific journals on the topic of intelligent design (although many Intelligent Design supporters contend they are "censored" from mainstream journals).
Unlike many in the intelligent design movement, he accepts the common descent of species, including that of humans and other apes. He also accepts the scientific consensus on the age of the Earth and the Universe. He merely argues that in some cases Darwinian evolution can not explain all mechanisms at a molecular level. He posits that it is easier to explain these "irreducibly complex" systems through intelligent design rather than an evolutionary model.
Behe has written editorial features in the Boston Review, American Spectator, and New York Times.
Books
- Darwins Black Box ISBN 0684834936
- Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe (Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute) ISBN 0898708095
Video
- Intelligent Design: From the Big Bang to Irreducible Complexity
- Unlocking the Mystery of Life
- Irreducible Complexity: The Biochemical Challenge to Darwinian Theory
- Where Does the Evidence Lead?
External links
Pro-intelligent design
Anti-creationist
- Irreducible Complexity and Michael Behe on Intelligent Design -- part of the talk.origins archive.
- Irreducible Complexity Demystified
Debates and Talks
Categories: American biochemists | Roman Catholic activists | Intelligent design advocates | 1952 births | Discovery Institute fellows and advisors
