"Uncommon Descent" articles by Vincent Torley, indexed by name of the person they're about

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Denis Alexander Julian Baggini Francis Beckwith Keith Blanchard
Sean Carroll Greg Cavin and Carlos Colombetti Gregory Chaitin Jerry Coyne
William Lane Craig Frank Curcio Clarence Darrow Richard Dawkins
Michael Egnor John Farrell Joe Felsenstein Edward Feser
"RD Fish" Philippa Foot His Holiness Pope Francis Mark Frank
Daniel Friedmann Stephen Fry Steve Fuller Jo Ann Gora
Anthony Grayling "Greta Christina" David Bentley Hart Christopher Hitchens
Chris Hogue "Keith S" Kenneth Kemp John Maynard Keynes
Zack Kopplin Gert Korthof Branko Kozulic "Libby Anne"
Elizabeth Liddle John Loftus David J. Lose Jeffrey Jay Lowder
Eric MacDonald Amanda Marcotte Harry McCall Eugene McCarthy
John F. McGrath H. L. Mencken Stephen Meyer Allan Miller
Kenneth Miller Chris Mooney Larry Moran Dave Mullenix
P. Z. Myers Thomas Nagel Dan-Eric Nilsson and Susanne Pelger Mohamed Noor
Redmond O'Hanlon Keith Parsons Steve Pinker Geraint Rees
John Roberts Alex Rosenberg Jason Rosenhouse Matt Rossano
Michael Ruse Carl Sagan Dan Savage Ben Shapiro
Mark Shea Victor Stenger John Jeremiah Sullivan Michael Sullivan (The Smithy)
Raymond Tallis Michael Tkacz James Tour Alexander Vilenkin
John Walton Phil Zuckerman

Denis Alexander

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Philo and Origen are not your friends, Dr. Alexander: A short survey of what two Biblical allegorists taught about Adam and Eve


Julian Baggini

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Snails for Dr. Baggini


Francis Beckwith

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Two quick questions for Professor Beckwith


Keith Blanchard

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Why Keith Blanchard really doesn't understand evolution


Sean Carroll

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Is God a good theory? A response to Sean Carroll (Part One)

Is God a good theory? A response to Sean Carroll (Part Two)

Is God a good theory? A response to Sean Carroll (Part Three)

Does scientific knowledge presuppose God? A reply to Carroll, Coyne, Dawkins and Loftus

The physicist and the princess

Seven questions for Professor Carroll


Greg Cavin and Carlos Colombetti

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Cavin and Colombetti, miracle-debunkers, or: Can a Transcendent Designer manipulate the cosmos?


Gregory Chaitin

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At last, a Darwinist mathematician tells the truth about evolution


Jerry Coyne

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Now Jerry Coyne doubts the historical existence of Jesus Christ

On worshiping the right God: Jerry Coyne asks a sensible question

Coyne compares Dembski to a Holocaust denier

Jerry Coyne's critique of the cosmological argument ... and the reply he wouldn't publish

Of snakebites and suicide

All at sea about science and theology: Jerry Coyne cites Andrew Dickson White on Galileo

Why the best arguments for the existence of God are not stupid

Jerry Coyne's ethical theory unravels

An apology is due from Why Evolution Is True

The fetus is a parasite, abortion is like plucking out a hair: how much does Jerry Coyne really know about biology?

Whose side are you on, Professor Coyne? What Anatole France really said about miracles

Refuting Coyne's myth: Science progresses but theology doesn't

Ten questions for Professor Coyne

Professor Coyne issues a challenge that’s too easy to resist

But they don't feel anything, Professor Coyne

Is free will dead?

Professors Coyne and Miller clash on free will

Why morality cannot be 100% natural: A Response to Professor Coyne

A very revealing post on naturalism, or: Good and bad extrapolations in science

Famous last words

Minds, brains, computers and skunk butts

Jerry's challenge

I, Robot

Swallowing camels

Professor Jerry Coyne on why Intelligent Design should be taught in public schools

Autumn Reading for Jerry and friends

My faith is falsifiable, Professor Coyne. Is yours?


William Lane Craig

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Craig and his critics: Why the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness is more propaganda than science

William Lane Craig and the problem of animal suffering: why it’s a poor argument for atheism, but an excellent argument against scientism

Larry Moran asks: "Do philosophers take William Lane Craig's arguments seriously?"

“Liar, liar, pants on fire”? Ten Tough Questions for Professor Dawkins.


Frank Curcio

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Count the mistakes


Clarence Darrow

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Clarence Darrow on rape and chloroforming the unfit: Jerry Coyne's strange choice of heroes


Richard Dawkins

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P. Z. Myers rebukes Richard Dawkins for his tweet on Down syndrome

What I'd like to ask Richard Dawkins

“Liar, liar, pants on fire”? Ten Tough Questions for Professor Dawkins.


Michael Egnor

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Remembering Rameses


John Farrell

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A man out of his depth: Has John Farrell read and understood John Henry Newman?


Joe Felsenstein

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Is the Intelligent Designer an interventionist? A reply to Felsenstein and Liddle


Edward Feser

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Hyper-skepticism and "My way or the highway": Feser's extraordinary post

On not doing one’s homework: A reply to Professor Edward Feser

Four Metaphors for the Cosmos: A Story about a Watch, a Lute, a Recipe and a Symphony

Intelligent Design and mechanism: laying a myth to rest

Building a bridge between Scholastic philosophy and Intelligent Design

What makes a thing a thing? Why reality has to be built from the bottom up as well as from the top down

Was Paley a classical theist, and does his design argument lead us to a false God?

Was Paley a mechanist?

Paley's argument from design: Did Hume refute it, and is it an argument from analogy?

It's all about information, Professor

Why I think the interaction problem is real

A reasonable man

An argument about ships, oaks, corn and teleology – will Professor Feser finally concede that it is possible for a living thing to be the product of design?

More Catholic than the Pope?

In praise of subtlety

A response to Professor Feser


"RD Fish"

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On the nature and detection of intelligence: A reply to RDFish


Philippa Foot

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Death of a grande dame: can we build morality on the foundation of natural goodness?


His Holiness Pope Francis

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Evaluating the Pope’s encyclical, Part One: Each living creature is designed by God

Evaluating the Pope’s encyclical, Part Two: Do we have the right to eradicate species?

Evaluating the Pope’s encyclical, Part Three: Four internal contradictions in the Pope’s thinking

What kind of evolution does the Pope believe in?


Mark Frank

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Mark Frank poses an interesting thought experiment on free will


Daniel Friedmann

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Credit where credit's due: P. Z. Myers vs. Daniel Friedmann on Genesis

The Broken Gift: Daniel Friedmann's attempt to marry science and Genesis


Stephen Fry

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Jerry Coyne and Stephen Fry's fishy tale about St. Thomas Aquinas


Steve Fuller

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Fuller vs. Ruse: Some thoughts on the controversy


Jo Ann Gora

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An open letter to BSU President Jo Ann Gora


Anthony Grayling

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Is this the Dumbest Ever “Refutation” of the Fine-Tuning Argument?

Is the notion of God logically contradictory?


"Greta Christina"

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Why Greta Christina’s critique of God-guided evolution misses the mark


David Bentley Hart

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Is Intelligent Design bad theology? A reply to David Bentley Hart

Misreading St. Augustine


Christopher Hitchens

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Christopher Hitchens: RIP (1949-2011)

Christopher's Challenge


Chris Hogue

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Game on! A bioinformatician confronts Intelligent Design.


"Keith S"

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Why Keith S's bomb is a damp squib

Keith S in a muddle over meaning, macroevolution and specified complexity


Kenneth Kemp

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Adam, Eve and the Concept of Humanity: A Response to Professor Kemp (Part 1)


John Maynard Keynes

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Did John Maynard Keynes spot the flaw in Intelligent Design?


Zack Kopplin

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Zack Kopplin, can you match my poker hand? (Part One)

Seven Nobel Laureates in science who either supported Intelligent Design or attacked Darwinian evolution (Part Two)

Why you can't be a Darwinist and a "human exceptionalist" (Part Three)

Twenty-one more famous Nobel Prize winners who rejected Darwinism as an account of consciousness (Part Four)


Gert Korthof

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Do Intelligent Design proponents worship two Gods?


Branko Kozulic

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When I'm wrong

Branko Kozulic responds to Professor Moran

Some testable predictions entailed by Dr. Kozulic's model of Intelligent Design

The Edge of Evolution?


"Libby Anne"

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Libby Anne: Portrait of an atheist feminist

Libby Anne (part 2): The ethics of a feminist atheist

Libby Anne (part 3): A reply to her article, "How I lost faith in the pro-life movement"


Elizabeth Liddle

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What Elizabeth Liddle doesn't understand about the Cambrian explosion

Dr. Liddle responds to my question

A quick question for Dr. Liddle and other skeptics

Methodological naturalism: Science enabler or science stopper? A response to Dr. Elizabeth Liddle.

Battle of the two Elizabeths: are free will and physical determinism compatible?


John Loftus

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God: Lawgiver or Hypocrite? Loftus attacks divine command theories of ethics

John Loftus' faulty logic on free will: There's no such thing as a bad personal reason for disbelief in the God of the Bible

Loftus' faulty argument for atheism gets an F double minus

Detecting design (2): A reply to John Loftus


David J. Lose

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You lose, Reverend: a minister blunders while attacking the inerrancy of his own holy book


Jeffrey Jay Lowder

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Looking at the totality of the evidence: a response to Jeffery Jay Lowder


Eric MacDonald

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No evidence, you say? A reply to Eric MacDonald.


Amanda Marcotte

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Science illiteracy on the liberal left: PZ Myers and Amanda Marcotte can't face the facts of life

Amanda Marcotte is half-right about creationists


Harry McCall

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Order vs. Complexity: A follow-up post

Order is not the same thing as complexity: A response to Harry McCall


Eugene McCarthy

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Up from the apes – and pigs?


James F. McGrath

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Fishing trip: A short essay on Intelligent Design, theology and metaphysics

An exchange with an ID skeptic

What kind of universe can’t God make? A response to Dr. James F. McGrath


H. L. Mencken

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H. L. Mencken: The nail in the coffin

Mencken's Mendacity at the Scopes Trial

Six bombshells relating to H. L. Mencken and the Scopes trial

H. L. Mencken: Is this your hero, New Atheists?

Gauguin and gods' graveyards: A response to H. L. Mencken


Stephen Meyer

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Bad math: Why Larry Moran's "I'm not a Darwinian" isn't a valid reply to Meyer's argument

What Elizabeth Liddle doesn't understand about the Cambrian explosion

A succinct case for Intelligent Design


Allan Miller

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Build me a protein – no guidance allowed! A response to Allan Miller and to Dryden, Thomson and White


Kenneth Miller

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The myth about the Dover trial that Miller continues to propagate

Professors Coyne and Miller clash on free will


Chris Mooney

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The dangers (and odd consequences) of never questioning a scientific consensus – a reply to Chris Mooney


Larry Moran

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I'd like a straight yes or a straight no, Professor Moran

Bad math: Why Larry Moran's "I'm not a Darwinian" isn't a valid reply to Meyer's argument

The much-disputed neutral theory of evolution and the book that Professor Moran refuses to review: Larry Moran responds to my questions

Professor Larry Moran poses five questions for the ID movement

Putting Humpty Dumpty back together again: why is this a bad argument for design?

When I'm wrong

Branko Kozulic responds to Professor Moran

A short post on fixation

So, why are the human and chimpanzee/bonobo genomes so similar? A reply to Professor Larry Moran

Does Professor Larry Moran (or anyone else) understand macroevolution?

Professor Larry Moran squares the circle

A question of bias

Poles Apart: A Challenge to Professor Moran

Professor Larry Moran supports the use of ID-compatible science textbooks in Texas classrooms

Larry Moran defends Paul Nelson!

Larry Moran asks: "Do philosophers take William Lane Craig's arguments seriously?"

A reply to Professor Moran

Will this do, Professor Moran?


Dave Mullenix

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Two pretty good arguments for atheism (courtesy of Dave Mullenix)


P. Z. Myers

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Physician, heal thyself: An open challenge to P. Z. Myers

Science illiteracy on the liberal left: PZ Myers and Amanda Marcotte can't face the facts of life

On not learning the lessons of history: what Professor PZ Myers doesn't "get" about the progress of science (Part One)

But Mr. Myers...!

Credit where credit's due: P. Z. Myers vs. Daniel Friedmann on Genesis

Someone's wrong. Who is it?

Newborn babies: not persons, and not fully human – P. Z. Myers


Thomas Nagel

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Thomas Nagel vs. his critics: Has Neo-Darwinian evolution failed, and can teleological naturalism take its place?


Dan-Eric Nilsson and Susanne Pelger

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Could the eye have evolved by natural selection in a geological blink?


Mohamed Noor

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Professor Mohamed Noor: A gentleman and a scholar

Noor's non sequitur, or: Did Hitler believe in Intelligent Design?


Redmond O'Hanlon

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Silly arguments against God, by very clever writers


Keith Parsons

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Why the moon isn’t made of green cheese (Part One of a reply to Professor Keith Parsons)

Why this universe? Good question. (Part Two of a reply to Professor Keith Parsons)


Steve Pinker

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Steve Pinker's bogus statistics: A critique of The Better Angels of Our Nature (Part One)

Steve Pinker's bogus statistics: A critique of The Better Angels of Our Nature (Part Two)


Geraint Rees

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Neuro-politico-nonsense


John Roberts

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Night Vision: A new version of the fine-tuning argument


Alex Rosenberg

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It's all about information, Professor


Jason Rosenhouse

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Why science cannot be the only way of knowing: A reply to Jason Rosenhouse

No good theology, you say? Oh yes, there is!


Matt Rossano

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Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of evolutionary psychology? I think not!


Michael Ruse

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Fuller vs. Ruse: Some thoughts on the controversy


Carl Sagan

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Good and bad skepticism: Carl Sagan on extraordinary claims


Dan Savage

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For the record – a comment on Dan Savage's latest talk


Ben Shapiro

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Media conspiracy: now it's official


Mark Shea

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On not using the wrong metaphor: Catholic writer Mark Shea attempts to channel Pope Francis


Victor Stenger

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Is fine-tuning a fallacy?

Bad science by Dr. Victor Stenger, arguing in the cause of atheism


John Jeremiah Sullivan

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The Myth of the Continuum of Creatures: A Reply to John Jeremiah Sullivan (Part One)

The Myth of the Continuum of Creatures: A Reply to John Jeremiah Sullivan (Part Two)

The Myth of the Continuum of Creatures: A Reply to John Jeremiah Sullivan (Part 3(a))

The Myth of the Continuum of Creatures: A Reply to John Jeremiah Sullivan (Part 3(b))


Michael Sullivan (The Smithy)

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What a living thing is, what an artifact is, and why the first living thing would have been one (Part One of a Response to the Smithy)

Living things, Machines and Intelligent Design (Part Two of a Response to the Smithy)

Programs, cells and letting God be God (A concluding reply to the Smithy)


Raymond Tallis

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Professor Raymond Tallis on good and bad arguments for atheism


Michael Tkacz

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St. Thomas Aquinas and his Fifteen Smoking Guns (A five-part reply to Professor Tkacz)


James Tour

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A world-famous chemist tells the truth: there's no scientist alive today who understands macroevolution

Professor James Tour accepts Nick Matzke's offer to explain macroevolution


Alexander Vilenkin

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Vilenkin’s verdict: “All the evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning.”


John Walton

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The Big Picture: 56 minutes that may change your life


Phil Zuckerman

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Phil Zuckerman on growing up godless



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