About CSC

After skimming a few articles that I found on the front page, I eventually noticed the 'About CSC' link. Right off the bat, I'd like to point out how interesting it is that the name of the website says nothing about the views represented by it. They call it 'The Center for Science and Culture' as if there is no agenda, as if they are purely unbiased in their 'scientific' findings.

I also noticed that the bullet points addressing CSC's various ambitions are riddled with an appeal to authority(underlined below): something that would be instantly recognized by one of those 'knowledgeable academics' that Robin mentions in his text.

Started in 1996, the Center for Science and Culture is a Discovery Institute program which:

• supports research by scientists and other scholars challenging various aspects of neo-Darwinian theory;
• supports research by scientists and other scholars developing the scientific theory known as intelligent design;
• supports research by scientists and scholars in the social sciences and humanities exploring the impact of scientific materialism on culture.
• encourages schools to improve science education by teaching students more fully about the theory of evolution, including the theory's scientific weaknesses as well is its strengths.

Discovery's Center for Science and Culture has more than 40 Fellows, including biologists, biochemists, chemists, physicists, philosophers and historians of science, and public policy and legal experts, many of whom also have affiliations with colleges and universities.

Not one of these 'scientists,' 'scholars,' 'experts,' or other euphemistic titles offers a strand of significance in their opinion without a name and personal reputation attached to it. The author is clearly trying to argue to the reader that CSC is purely scientific in its views, regardless of the fact that intelligent design in its very essence requires a scientifically unsupported faith in a higher power. The author is trying to dazzle the audience by saying CSC's views are supported by intelligent people, without ever having to specify precisely which views are supported by whom and with what reason. This is beautiful because it gives the unsuspecting reader the impression that nothing on the site would be posted without the approval of one of CSC's many intelligent scientists. Suddenly CSC is infallible among those not observant enough to notice these cultural manipulations.