Michael Denton

Michael John Denton (born 25 August 1943) is a British biochemist who is a proponent of intelligent design and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He holds a PhD degree in biochemistry. Denton's book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, inspired intelligent design proponents Phillip Johnson and Michael Behe.^[1]

Michael Denton
Born	(1943-08-25) August 25, 1943 (age 81)
Citizenship	British
Alma mater	University of Bristol (MD) King's College London (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine, biochemistry

Biography

Denton gained a medical degree from Bristol University in 1969 and a PhD in biochemistry from King's College London in 1974. He was a senior research fellow in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand from 1990 to 2005. He later became a scientific researcher in the field of genetic eye diseases. He has spoken worldwide on genetics, evolution and the anthropic argument for design. Denton's current interests include defending the "anti-Darwinian evolutionary position" and the design hypothesis formulated in his book Nature’s Destiny.^[2] Denton described himself as an agnostic.^[3][4][5] He is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.

Books

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

See also: Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

In 1985 Denton wrote the book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, presenting a systematic critique of neo-Darwinism ranging from paleontology, fossils, homology, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, and argued that evidence of design exists in nature. Some book reviews criticized his arguments.^[6] He describes himself as an evolutionist and he has rejected biblical creationism.^[7] The book influenced Phillip E. Johnson, the father of intelligent design, Michael Behe, a proponent of irreducible complexity,^[8] and George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement.^[9] Since writing the book Denton has changed many of his views on evolution; however, he still believes that the existence of life is a matter of design.^[10]

Nature's Destiny

Denton still accepts design and embraces a non-Darwinian evolutionary theory. He denies that randomness accounts for the biology of organisms; he has proposed an evolutionary theory which is a "directed evolution" in his book Nature's Destiny (1998). Life, according to Denton, did not exist until the initial conditions of the universe were fine-tuned (see Fine-tuned universe).^[11] Denton was influenced by Lawrence Joseph Henderson (1878-1942), Paul Davies and John D. Barrow who argued for an anthropic principle in the cosmos (Denton 1998, v, Denton 2005). His second book Nature's Destiny (1998)^[12] is his biological contribution to the anthropic principle debate, dominated by physicists. He argues for a law-like evolutionary unfolding of life.^[13]

Publications

• Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Adler & Adler, 1985. ISBN 0-917561-52-X
• Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe, New York: Free Press, 1998. ISBN 0-7432-3762-5
• Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. Seattle, Washington: Discovery Institute, 2016. Paperback: ISBN 978-1936599325