ERIC Number: EJ1249223
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Apr
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-7217
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Available Date: N/A
Anti-Intellectualism and Anti-Evolutionism: Lessons from Hofstadter
Branch, Glenn
Phi Delta Kappan, v101 n7 p22-27 Apr 2020
The forces of anti-intellectualism in American life, as described by Richard Hofstadter, have been especially prominent in the battle against the teaching of evolution. Glenn Branch discusses the different aspects of anti-intellectualism that are at the root of objections to evolution and explains how creation science, which had a transparently religious motivation, eventually gave way to intelligent design, which was less explicit in its religious aims. In the face of constitutional challenges, these modes of anti-evolutionism have been largely replaced by discourse that misrepresents evolution as "just a theory" and that misleadingly portrays miseducation about evolution as a matter of intellectual freedom. Branch then suggests how, by understanding the anti-intellectual roots of objections to evolution, science educators might teach evolution more effectively.
Descriptors: Anti Intellectualism, Evolution, Creationism, Science Instruction, Academic Freedom, Religious Factors, Public Schools
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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