Abstract
Chapter 8 draws together and closes my ethnographic discussion by considering the two forms of Truth by which dominant American scientific and religious discourses appear to be solidly rooted. Using the tools of existential phenomenology and sociocultural theory, I work through problems of epistemology and identity in evolution education. In the US context, how is a public school educator to both remain respective to religious pluralism, while also teaching Creationists that evolution has happened? For a Creationist student, how does one both be a Creationist and accept that evolution has taken place? One way of being, as a matter of public education in science, seemingly obliterates the other.
By introducing a third perspective via a mythic scene from Americana, I consider ways to open dialectical spaces for growth and possibility regarding evolution education. In doing so, I open discourses that move evolution education forward by considering what ungrounding some of the deepest American cultural attachments might mean for science, religious practice, and education. As I argue, the seeming absurdity and irrationalism of Creationism is indicative of a social anxieties produced by sensing the significance of their world as slipping away. In conclusion, I argue that effective evolution education almost certainly stands to gain by a better understanding, by all, of the philosophical foundations of both religion and science.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alsop, S. (2005). Beyond Cartesian dualism: Encountering affect in the teaching and learning of science. Science & technology education library (Vol. 29). Dordrecht: Springer.
Blattner, W. D. (2006). Heidegger’s Being and Time: A reader’s guide. Continuum reader’s guides. London: Continuum.
Bloom, H. (1992). The American religion: The emergence of the post-Christian nation. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice (Cambridge studies in social anthropology, Vol. 16). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1998). Practical reason: On the theory of action. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.-C., Nice, R., & Bottomore, T. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture / Transl. from the French by Richard Nice; with a foreword by Tom. Bottomore. London: Sage.
Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1–21.
Dreyfus, H. L. (1991). Being-in-the-world: A commentary on Heidegger’s Being and Time, division I. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Dreyfus, H. (2000). Reinterpreting division I of Being and Time in the light of division II. In J. E. Faulconer & M. A. Wrathall (Eds.), Appropriating Heidegger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dreyfus, H. L. (2005). Foreword. In C. J. White & M. Ralkowski (Eds.), Time and death: Heidegger’s analysis of finitude. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Feyerabend, P. (1987). Farewell to reason. London: Verso.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. Oxford: Cambridge University Press.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures; selected essays. New York: Basic Books.
Gopnik, A. (2009). Angels and ages: A short book about Darwin, Lincoln, and modern life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Gould, S. J. (1999). Rocks of ages: Science and religion in the fullness of life. The library of contemporary thought. New York: Ballantine Pub. Group.
Heidegger, M. (1962 [1927]). Being and time. New York: Harper.
Hokayem, H., & BouJaoude, S. (2008). College students perceptions of the theory of evolution. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(4), 395–419.
Husserl, E., & Welton, D. (1999). The essential Husserl: Basic writings in transcendental phenomenology. Studies in Continental thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Knowledge and critical pedagogy: An introduction (Explorations of educational purpose, Vol. 1). Montreal: Springer.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lear, J. (2006). Radical hope: Ethics in the face of cultural devastation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lederman, N. (2007). Nature of science: Past, present, and future. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 831–879). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Long, D. E. (2010b). Science, religion and difficult dialectics. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5(1), 257–261.
Mattingly, C., Lutkehaus, N. C., & Throop, C. J. (2008). Bruner’s search for meaning: A conversation between psychology and anthropology. Ethos, 36(1), 1–28.
Miller, K. R. (1999). Finding Darwin’s God: A scientist’s search for common ground between God and evolution. New York: Cliff Street Books.
Plenty-coups, & Linderman, F. B. (2003). Plenty-coups, chief of the Crows: With a new, previously unpublished essay by the author. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Rutherford, F. J., & Ahlgren, A. (1990). Science for all Americans. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shipton, Mother, & Mee, A. (1989). Mother Shipton’s prophecies: The earliest published editions of 1641, 1684 and 1686: Together with an introduction to which is added, The story of Knaresborough: Ancient Yorkshire town of her birth. Maidstone: George Mann.
Smith, M., & Siegel, H. (2004). Knowing, believing, and understanding: What goals for science education? Science Education, 13, 553–582.
Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(April), 273–286.
Swidler, A. (2001). Talk of love: How culture matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tough, P. (2008). Whatever it takes: Geoffrey Canada’s quest to change Harlem and America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Willis, P. E. (1978). Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House.
Wrathall, M. A. (2006). How to read Heidegger. New York: W.W. Norton.
Wuthnow, R. (2005). America and the challenges of religious diversity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Long, D.E. (2011). Darwin’s Hammer and John Henry’s Hammer. In: Evolution and Religion in American Education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1808-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1808-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1807-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1808-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)