Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
Encyclopedia
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity (PSSI), formally registered as PSSI International Inc, is a nonprofit anti-evolution
organization promoting intelligent design
associated with the Discovery Institute
, based in Clearwater, Florida
. It sponsors events promoting intelligent design and fundamentalist Christianity.
The PSSI has also created and maintains a list of medical professionals who "Dissent from Darwinism". This list is used by the Discovery Institute in its anti-evolution campaigns
. The petition is in support of the Discovery Institute claims that intelligent design
is scientifically valid while attempting to create the impression that evolution
lacks broad scientific support. The Dissent petition contains a vaguely worded and misleading statement, similar to the widely criticized document produced by the Discovery Institute, A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
, in 2001.
This effort as one of the Discovery Institute anti-evolution campaigns
has come under criticism for being misleading and anti-science. The list of signatories represents an insignificant fraction of medical professionals (about 0.02%). The validity of evolution
is not determined by petitions or polls, however, but by scientific evidence. This is the reason that, in biological science itself, the theory of evolution
is overwhelmingly accepted
.
As of August 27, 2007, the list included 270 physicians and other medical and related professionals.
is being hampered by evolution supporters suppressing views that they disagree with. They also attack the standard creationist strawman of evolution
, claiming that "Darwinian macroevolution" is a random process that moves from "molecules to man". This is incorrect, since natural selection
is not a random process at all, and the theory of evolution is silent on the processes by which life began, such as abiogenesis
.
The PSSI website repeats other standard creationist objections to evolution
, including the claim that subscription to "Darwinian
macroevolution
" (a misleading nonsense phrase) is damaging to the social structures of societies. This is contrary to the data analyzed in a study published by author and illustrator Gregory S. Paul
. Nevertheless, the methodlogy and conclusions of Paul's study were criticized by more recent articles published in the same journal. The PSSI tries to emphasize the threat of evolution by using a mined quote from philosophy professor Daniel Dennett
, "Darwinian evolution is a ‘universal acid;’ it eats through just about every traditional concept and leaves in its wake a revolutionized world-view."
PSSI also quotes film maker and Harvard Medical School
graduate Michael Crichton
:
, M.D., Discovery Institute
fellow, is one of the Directors of the PSSI.
The PSSI invites any person with an M.D.
, D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.V.M. or equivalent degree to be a physician/surgeon member of PSSI. The PSSI offers separate memberships for other medical professionals and the general public.
The PSSI has held a "Doctors Doubting Darwin" rally at the University of South Florida
's Sun Dome
in September, 2006. It held events in Barcelona, Malaga, Madrid, Leon
and Vigo, Spain from January 17 to January 25, 2008. Further events at Louisiana State University
in the spring of 2008, Costa Rica
, El Salvador
and Guatemala
in August 2008, Oregon
and Washington State in the fall of 2008, Rome, Italy in the winter of 2008.
As of August, 2007, it cost 350 dollars a year for a regular membership in the PSSI. The PSSI also offered memberships with reduced fees for medical residents, medical students, other medical professionals, nonmedical memberships, and others who are not able to afford these fees.
Originally it was free to join the PSSI. This continued to be true at least through April 11, 2007.
On the evening of Friday, September 29, 2006, a "Doctors who Doubt Darwin" rally organized by Tom Woodward, author of Doubts About Darwin, and Rich Akin, author of Darwin or Design?, and sponsored by the PSSI, was held at the University of South Florida
's Sun Dome. This rally drew about 3500-4000 people, according to Hank Tippins of the Tampa Bay
newspaper, The Observer News. Jacob Tillman of the University of South Florida newspaper, The Oracle
estimated that the crowd was larger than 1000. Apologetic organizations promoting the event had hoped to fill all 7700 seats in the Sun Dome.
This meeting featured the Discovery Institute's Jonathan Wells and fellow Michael Behe
, and received local radio coverage. The Sun Dome rally was opposed by the Florida Citizens for Science organization.
The PSSI also sponsored a three hour presentation to 120 people at the Radisson Hotel
in St. Petersburg, Florida
on the morning of Saturday, September 30, 2006, the day after the Sun Dome rally. This discussion featured intelligent design advocates Michael Behe
, Ralph Seelke and Jonathan Wells. St. Petersburg Times
reporter Melanie Ave reported that the material was met with skepticism in some quarters. A debate was planned as a second part to "Darwin or Design?" featuring the Discovery Institute's Stephen C. Meyer
.
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...
organization promoting intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
associated with 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...
, based in Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
. It sponsors events promoting intelligent design and fundamentalist Christianity.
The PSSI has also created and maintains a list of medical professionals who "Dissent from Darwinism". This list is used by the Discovery Institute in its anti-evolution campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns are a series of related public relations campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute is the...
. The petition is in support of the Discovery Institute claims that intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
is scientifically valid while attempting to create the impression that 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...
lacks broad scientific support. The Dissent petition contains a vaguely worded and misleading statement, similar to the widely criticized document produced by the Discovery Institute, A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
, in 2001.
This effort as one of the Discovery Institute anti-evolution campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns are a series of related public relations campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute is the...
has come under criticism for being misleading and anti-science. The list of signatories represents an insignificant fraction of medical professionals (about 0.02%). The validity of 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...
is not determined by petitions or polls, however, but by scientific evidence. This is the reason that, in biological science itself, the theory of 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...
is overwhelmingly accepted
Level of support for evolution
The level of support for evolution among scientists, the public and other groups is a topic that frequently arises in the creation-evolution controversy and touches on educational, religious, philosophical, scientific and political issues. The subject is primarily contentious in the United States...
.
As of August 27, 2007, the list included 270 physicians and other medical and related professionals.
Viewpoint
The PSSI claim that academic freedomAcademic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
is being hampered by evolution supporters suppressing views that they disagree with. They also attack the standard creationist strawman of 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...
, claiming that "Darwinian macroevolution" is a random process that moves from "molecules to man". This is incorrect, since natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
is not a random process at all, and the theory of evolution is silent on the processes by which life began, such as abiogenesis
Abiogenesis
Abiogenesis or biopoesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose...
.
The PSSI website repeats other standard creationist objections to evolution
Objections to evolution
Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, his theory of evolution by natural selection initially met opposition from scientists with different theories, but came to...
, including the claim that subscription to "Darwinian
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
macroevolution
Macroevolution
Macroevolution is evolution on a scale of separated gene pools. Macroevolutionary studies focus on change that occurs at or above the level of species, in contrast with microevolution, which refers to smaller evolutionary changes within a species or population.The process of speciation may fall...
" (a misleading nonsense phrase) is damaging to the social structures of societies. This is contrary to the data analyzed in a study published by author and illustrator Gregory S. Paul
Gregory S. Paul
Gregory Scott Paul is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dinosaurs and his detailed illustrations, both live and skeletal...
. Nevertheless, the methodlogy and conclusions of Paul's study were criticized by more recent articles published in the same journal. The PSSI tries to emphasize the threat of evolution by using a mined quote from philosophy professor Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Co-director of...
, "Darwinian evolution is a ‘universal acid;’ it eats through just about every traditional concept and leaves in its wake a revolutionized world-view."
PSSI also quotes film maker and Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
graduate Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
:
Organization and Activities
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity was established in early 2006 by Rich Akin. Geoffrey SimmonsGeoffrey Simmons
Geoffrey Simmons is a medical doctor, author, lecturer, trainer and intelligent design advocate from Eugene, Oregon. He has a BS in biology from the University of Illinois and received an M.D. from the University of Illinois Medical School in 1969...
, M.D., 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...
fellow, is one of the Directors of the PSSI.
The PSSI invites any person with an M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.V.M. or equivalent degree to be a physician/surgeon member of PSSI. The PSSI offers separate memberships for other medical professionals and the general public.
The PSSI has held a "Doctors Doubting Darwin" rally at the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
's Sun Dome
USF Sun Dome
The USF Sun Dome is a multi-purpose facility, on the campus of the University of South Florida, in Tampa, Florida...
in September, 2006. It held events in Barcelona, Malaga, Madrid, Leon
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
and Vigo, Spain from January 17 to January 25, 2008. Further events at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in the spring of 2008, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in August 2008, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington State in the fall of 2008, Rome, Italy in the winter of 2008.
As of August, 2007, it cost 350 dollars a year for a regular membership in the PSSI. The PSSI also offered memberships with reduced fees for medical residents, medical students, other medical professionals, nonmedical memberships, and others who are not able to afford these fees.
History
By May 8, 2006, the PSSI Dissent petition had 34 signatories.Originally it was free to join the PSSI. This continued to be true at least through April 11, 2007.
On the evening of Friday, September 29, 2006, a "Doctors who Doubt Darwin" rally organized by Tom Woodward, author of Doubts About Darwin, and Rich Akin, author of Darwin or Design?, and sponsored by the PSSI, was held at the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
's Sun Dome. This rally drew about 3500-4000 people, according to Hank Tippins of the Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
newspaper, The Observer News. Jacob Tillman of the University of South Florida newspaper, The Oracle
The Oracle (University of South Florida)
The Oracle, the University of South Florida's student-run newspaper, made history when its premier issue was published September 6, 1966...
estimated that the crowd was larger than 1000. Apologetic organizations promoting the event had hoped to fill all 7700 seats in the Sun Dome.
This meeting featured the Discovery Institute's Jonathan Wells and fellow Michael Behe
Michael Behe
Michael J. Behe is an American biochemist, author, and intelligent design advocate. He currently serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and as a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture...
, and received local radio coverage. The Sun Dome rally was opposed by the Florida Citizens for Science organization.
The PSSI also sponsored a three hour presentation to 120 people at the Radisson Hotel
Radisson Hotels
Radisson Hotels is one of the leading, full-service global hotel companies with more than 420 locations in 73 countries. The first Radisson Hotel was built in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1909, and was named after the 17th-century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson...
in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
on the morning of Saturday, September 30, 2006, the day after the Sun Dome rally. This discussion featured intelligent design advocates Michael Behe
Michael Behe
Michael J. Behe is an American biochemist, author, and intelligent design advocate. He currently serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and as a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture...
, Ralph Seelke and Jonathan Wells. St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
reporter Melanie Ave reported that the material was met with skepticism in some quarters. A debate was planned as a second part to "Darwin or Design?" featuring the Discovery Institute's Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer is an American scholar, philosopher and advocate for intelligent design. He helped found the Center for Science and Culture of the Discovery Institute , which is the main organisation behind the intelligent design movement. Before joining the DI, Meyer was a professor at...
.
See also
- Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism
- A Scientific Dissent From DarwinismA Scientific Dissent From DarwinismA Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
- A Scientific Support for DarwinismA Scientific Support for DarwinismA Scientific Support for Darwinism was a four day, word-of-mouth petition of scientists in support of evolution. Inspired by Project Steve, it was initiated in 2005 by archaeologist R...
- Level of support for evolutionLevel of support for evolutionThe level of support for evolution among scientists, the public and other groups is a topic that frequently arises in the creation-evolution controversy and touches on educational, religious, philosophical, scientific and political issues. The subject is primarily contentious in the United States...
- Clergy Letter ProjectClergy Letter ProjectThe Clergy Letter Project is an project that maintains statements in support of the teaching of evolution and in opposition to the teaching of creationism in public schools and collects signatures in support of the letter from American Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist clergy. The...
- Project SteveProject SteveProject Steve is a list of scientists with the given name Steven or a variation thereof who "support evolution"...
External links
- Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, official website
- PSSI physicians/surgeons membership list, the "Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism"