Charles Thaxton

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Charles B. Thaxton is a Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He has a doctorate in physical chemistry from Iowa State University. He went on to complete post-doctorate programs in the history of science at Harvard University and the molecular biology laboratories of Brandeis University. Thaxton has co-authored several books, including The Mystery of Life's Origin and The Soul of Science. He was the editor of the first edition of the controversial creationism/Intelligent Design textbook, Of Pandas and People.[1] The book was featured prominently in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District and the drafts that show the transition between creation to "cdesign proponentsists"[2] to intelligent design proved important in the judge's decision.

Thaxton was impressed by chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi’s argument that the information in DNA could not be reduced to physics and chemistry. Something more was needed. Thaxton later said that he preferred intelligent design to creationism because he "wasn’t comfortable with the typical vocabulary that for the most part creationists were using because it didn’t express what I was trying to do. They were wanting to bring God into the discussion, and I was wanting to stay within the empirical domain and do what you can do legitimately there."[3]

Contents

[edit] The Mystery of Life’s Origin

The Mystery of Life’s Origin is a 1984 book in which Thaxton, materials scientist Walter L. Bradley and geochemist Roger L. Olsen challenge "chemical evolution" (better known as abiogenesis), the idea that unguided natural processes produced the first living cells from non-living materials.

[edit] Other publications

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nick Matzke. "9.0. Matzke (2006): The Story of the Pandas Drafts", National Center for Science Education, 2006-10-25. 
  2. ^ "Missing link: “cdesign proponentsists”", Panda's Thumb, 2005. 
  3. ^ Thaxton, C. "Deposition of Dr. Charles Thaxton, 53:5–11" (Kitzmiller v. Dover Area Sch. Dist, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707, M.D. Pa., July 19, 2005).

[edit] External links

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