Darwin Retried: an Appeal to Reason [Paperback]

Norman Macbeth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1971

Fair, detailed, carefully reasoned critique of Darwinian theory.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Norman Macbeth, a Harvard-trained lawyer, has made the study of Darwinian theory his avocation for many years. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he received his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Among his previous writings is an article on Darwinism, published in the Yale Review in 1967, which led to this book. He lives in Vermont.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (October 15, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876451059
• ISBN-13: 978-0876451052
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lawyer's verdict: Darwinism guilty of many logical errors, June 29, 2000

By 

Douglas Groothuis "Douglas Groothuis" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Darwin Retried: an Appeal to Reason (Paperback)

I first read this book in 1980, and was quite impressed with its critique of Darwinism as a logical construct. Macbeth took up the study of Darwinist argumentation as a avocation. He does not appeal to any religious authority to contradict Darwinism, nor does he reject the idea of evolution in toto. Rather, he finds the evidence and arguments for Darwinism to be deeply flawed. Questions are begged, evidence is fudged, and extrapolations are unwarranted.

The first edition of this book (1971) came well over a decade before Michael Denton's pivotal critique, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1986), and well before the theistic Intelligent Design Movement, spearheaded by Phillip E. Johson's book, Darwin on Trial (1991; revised edition, 1993). (Johnson is also a laywer, and a professor of law at UC-Berkeley.) MacBeth has also published a small booklet of interviews on the topic called, Darwinism: A Time for Funerals (1985). This is a thoughtful and fair critique well worth reading. Let me end with a quote from the author: "Any profession [he has biology in mind] that does not supply its own criticism and iconoclasm will discover that someone else will do the job, and usually in a way it does not like."

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy Denver Seminary

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite on point, February 19, 2008

By 

Wüstenfuchs (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwin Retried: an Appeal to Reason (Paperback)

"Darwinism" means at least two things: (1) the theory expounded by Darwin in The Origin of Species, or "classical Darwinism"; (2) Darwin's theory combined with genetics and other 20th-century elements, a.k.a. "the modern synthesis" or "neo-Darwinism". In this book, Norman Macbeth sets out to show that theory 1 has serious flaws and is no longer believed by most biologists, although this news has not really gotten out to the public. He manages to show this pretty well and cites well-known works by eminent biologists. Macbeth restricts himself to criticizing Darwin and does not propose any alternative theory. His writing is even-tempered and clear, and the book is short (maybe too short).

The problem here, of course, is that theory 1 is dead; biologists nowadays hold to theory 2. Macbeth's criticisms are pertinent only to the extent that the elements of Darwin's original theory are still part of theory 2. He thinks that those elements are still quite prominent, in fact so prominent as to compromise the entire theory. He may have a point, but he should have been clearer about which theory he was criticizing.

In short, a valuable contribution to the debate, but hardly the last word.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fair Assessment, June 30, 2007

By 

Deborah Kahn "chutzpah" (vermont) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darwin Retried: an Appeal to Reason (Paperback)

It is many years since I read Darwin Retried, but I remember it as a thoughtful and careful book. MacBeth isn't trying to score big points, he is simply evaluating the Neo-Darwinian theories and pointing out some weak spots.

The main critique I've seen of the book (in other places) is that the author has no alternative explanation for the evolution of life. This is an odd attitude. You can't say that someone is wrong unless you have another explanation for the phenomena at hand? Why ever not?

I'd recommend the book because it is not strident, it is not part of any religious or political movement and it discusses some interesting problems with the "synthesis." On the other hand...it is pretty old...so some of the material is way out of date.