| Michael John Denton | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 25, 1943 |
| Residence | Australia |
| Citizenship | British/Australian |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Website | |
| www.michaeljdenton.com | |
Michael John Denton (born 25 August 1943) is a British-Australian author and biochemist. In 1973, Denton received his PhD in Biochemistry from King's College London.[1]
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Denton gained a medical degree from Bristol University in 1969 and a PhD from King’s College, London University in 1974. He was senior research fellow in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand from 1990 – 2005. He later was a scientific reseacher in the field of genetic eye diseases. He has spoken worldwide on genetics, evolution and the anthropic argument for design. Denton's current interests include defending the "anti Darwinian evolutionary position" and the design hypothesis formulated in his book Nature’s Destiny.[2]
Denton is best known for his 1985 book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, in the book he presented a systematic critique of neo-darwinism ranging from paleontology, fossils, homology, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry and argued that evidence of design exists in nature. Denton however is not a creationist, he describes himself as an evolutionist, he has rejected biblical creationism. Because of his book he is often regarded as the person who laid the intellectual foundations for the Intelligent Design movement.[3] The book was negatively reviewed by parties within the scientific community while praised by creationist organizations. The book influenced both Phillip E. Johnson, the father of intelligent design, and George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement.[4] Denton was also a former Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, hub of the Intelligent Design movement.[5] Since writing the book Denton has changed many of his views on evolution, and is no longer associated with the Discovery Institute, he however still believes that the existence of life is a matter of design.[6]
Although Denton challenged neo-Darwinism with his 1985 book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, many of Denton's views have since diverged outside of the Intelligent Design movement, Denton still accepts design but embraces a non-Darwinian evolutionary theory. He denies that randomness accounts for the biology of organisms, he has proposed an evolutionary theory which is a “directed evolution” in his book Natures Destiny (1998). Life according to Denton did not exist until initial conditions of the universe were fine tuned (see Fine-tuned Universe).[7] Denton was influenced by Lawrence Joseph Henderson (1878-1942), Paul Davies and John D. Barrow who argued for an Anthropic Principle in the cosmos (Denton 1998, v, Denton 2005). Thus his second book Nature's Destiny (1998)[8] is his biological contribution on the Anthropic Principle debate which is dominated by physicists. He argues for a law-like evolutionary unfolding of life.[9]
Books
Selected Articles