Michael Denton
Encyclopedia
Michael John Denton is a British
-Australian author and biochemist. In 1973, Denton received his PhD in Biochemistry
from King's College London
.
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.
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
. 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
. Denton was also a former Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute
's Center for Science and Culture
, hub of the Intelligent Design movement. 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.
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
). 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) is his biological contribution on the Anthropic Principle debate which is dominated by physicists. He argues for a law-like evolutionary unfolding of life.
Selected Articles
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Australian author and biochemist. In 1973, Denton received his PhD in Biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
from King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
.
Biography
Denton gained a medical degree from Bristol University in 1969 and a PhDPHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from King’s College, London University in 1974. He was senior research fellow in the Biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
Department at the University of Otago
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
, Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
from 1990 – 2005. He later was a scientific reseacher in the field of genetic eye diseases. He has spoken worldwide on genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
, evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
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.
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis
Denton is best known for his 1985 book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, in the book he presented a systematic critique of neo-darwinismNeo-Darwinism
Neo-Darwinism is the 'modern synthesis' of Darwinian evolution through natural selection with Mendelian genetics, the latter being a set of primary tenets specifying that evolution involves the transmission of characteristics from parent to child through the mechanism of genetic transfer, rather...
ranging from paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, fossils, homology
Homology (biology)
Homology forms the basis of organization for comparative biology. In 1843, Richard Owen defined homology as "the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function". Organs as different as a bat's wing, a seal's flipper, a cat's paw and a human hand have a common underlying...
, molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
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
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
. Because of his book he is often regarded as the person who laid the intellectual foundations for the Intelligent Design movement
Intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of "intelligent design," which asserts that "certain features of the universe and of living things are...
. The book was negatively reviewed by parties within the scientific community
Scientific community
The scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
while praised by creationist organizations. The book influenced both Phillip E. Johnson
Phillip E. Johnson
Phillip E. Johnson is a retired UC Berkeley law professor and author. He became a born-again Christian while a tenured professor and is considered the father of the intelligent design movement...
, the father of intelligent design, and George Gilder
George Gilder
George F. Gilder is an American writer, techno-utopian intellectual, Republican Party activist, and co-founder of the Discovery Institute...
, co-founder of the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
, the hub of the intelligent design movement
Intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of "intelligent design," which asserts that "certain features of the universe and of living things are...
. Denton was also a former Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
's Center for Science and Culture
Center for Science and Culture
The Center for Science and Culture , formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture , is part of the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank in the United States...
, hub of the Intelligent Design movement. 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.
Natures Destiny
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 biologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
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
Fine-tuned universe
The fine-tuned universe is the proposition that the conditions that allow life in the Universe can only occur when certain universal fundamental physical constants lie within a very narrow range, so that if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different the universe would be...
). Denton was influenced by Lawrence Joseph Henderson
Lawrence Joseph Henderson
Lawrence Joseph Henderson was a physiologist, chemist, biologist, philosopher, and sociologist. He became one of the leading biochemists of the first decades of the 20th century.Lawrence Henderson graduated from Harvard College in 1898 and from Harvard Medical School in 1902, receiving the M. D...
(1878-1942), Paul Davies
Paul Davies
Paul Charles William Davies, AM is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science...
and John D. Barrow
John D. Barrow
-External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************...
who argued for an Anthropic Principle
Anthropic principle
In astrophysics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is the philosophical argument that observations of the physical Universe must be compatible with the conscious life that observes it. Some proponents of the argument reason that it explains why the Universe has the age and the fundamental...
in the cosmos (Denton 1998, v, Denton 2005). Thus his second book Nature's Destiny (1998) is his biological contribution on the Anthropic Principle debate which is dominated by physicists. He argues for a law-like evolutionary unfolding of life.
Publications
Books- Evolution: A Theory in CrisisEvolution: A Theory in CrisisEvolution: A Theory in Crisis is a 1985 book by Michael Denton in which he claims that the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection is a "theory in crisis"...
. Adler & Adler, 1985. ISBN 091756152X - Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe, New York: Free Press, 1998. ISBN 0743237625
Selected Articles
- Denton MJ, Arnstein HR, "Characterization of developing adult mammalian erythroid cells separated by velocity sedimentation," Br J Haematol. 1973 Jan;24(1):7-17.
- Denton, MJ, Spencer, N and Arnstein, HRV (1975) "Biochemical and Enzymic Changes during Red Cell Differentiation: The Significance of the Final Cell Division," Biochemical Journal 146: 205-211.
- Denton, MJ, Chen, JD, Serravalle, S, Colley, P, Halliday, FB, and Donald, J. (1988) "Estimate of Recombination Fractions between the Xp Probes, L128, OTC, CX5, 754, XJ.1, pERT-87, and C7 and the locus for Retinitis Pigmentosa," Hum Genet 78: 60-64.
- Denton, MJ, and Marshall, JC (2001) "The Laws of Form Revisited," Invited Concepts Column, Nature 410: 411.
- Denton, MJ, Marshall CJ, Legge M. "Protein Folds as Platonic Forms," Journal of Theoretical Biology 2002 Dec 7;219(3):325-342. Abstract
- Denton, MJ, "Henderson's 'Fine-Tuning Argument': Time for Rediscovery," in Spiritual Information: 100 Perspectives on Science and Religion edited by Charles L. Harper Jr., Templeton Foundation Press, Philadelphia, 2005, pp. 167-171.
- Denton, MJ, "Protein-based life as an emergent property of matter: the nature and biological fitness of the protein folds," in Fitness of the Cosmos for Life edited by John D. Barrow et al., Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 256-279.
External links
- Are We Spiritual Machines? Ray Kurzweil Vs. the Critics of Strong A.I. with an essay by Michael Denton
- Review of Michael Denton's Evolution: A Theory in Crisis Mark I. Vuletic, Talk Origins
- Denton's Genetic-Medicine Work at University of Sindh