My complaint is not based on the notion that only scientists can criticize
other scientists (although I'm with those who do believe that a certain
amount of expert knowledge is required in order to even talk about some
things, but you don't have to get a Ph.D. to get that kind of expert
knowledge).
My complaint is against people who think that if you quote an evolutionist
to criticize a certain point in evolutionary theory that you've knocked out
that point. It's sort of a back-door appeal to the experts. This is what
Stephen Jones seems to do alot and is at the heart of the "quote book"
mentality. I do believe that Phil Johnson falls into this at times
(especially in his Dawkins vs. Gould quotes in RITB which is a microcosm of
his punct eq vs. neo-Darwinism discussion in DOT). When you've got two
experts disagreeing, it takes more than throwing "quote" bombs back and
forth in a debate. And you can't simply say that experts' contradicting
each other simply invalidates the other--you've got to do the hard work and
become competent (expert) enough to enter the debate.
This is all just to say that I agree with those who insist on focusing on
the content of the matters being debated and not commit genetic fallacies,
but also that I agree with those who have been saying that you have to do
your homework and be competent (expert) when dealing with that content.
BTW I disagree strongly with the notion that scientists aren't formally
trained in rules of logic or rules of evidence. Peer review of grants and
papers as well as discussion of controversial opinions at seminars are
ruthless in their application of those rules. The fact that this is so
true is what leads scientists to trust the primary literature. No doubt,
different communities of scientists are varying in their degree of
ruthlessness, but in general, I believe that the principle hold.
TG
_____________________________________________________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Calvin College 3201 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 40546
Office: (616) 957-7187 FAX: (616) 957-6501
Email: grayt@calvin.edu http://www.calvin.edu/~grayt