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Taner Edis - Wikipedia
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Taner Edis

Taner Edis (born August 20, 1967) is a Turkish American physicist and skeptic. He is a professor of physics at Truman State University.[1] He received his B.S. from Boğaziçi University in Turkey and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.[2] Edis is the author of several books on creationism, religion and science. He is a scientific and technical consultant for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Taner Edis
At The Amaz!ng Meeting - July 2015
Born (1967-08-20) August 20, 1967 (age 57)
NationalityTurkish
Alma mater
Known forAuthor
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics, Condensed matter physics
Institutions
Websiteedis.sites.truman.edu

Early life

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Born in Istanbul, Turkey to secular Turkish and American parents, Edis traveled to the United States many times in his childhood.[3][4]

Edis has lived in the United States since starting his master's degree at Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1994.[4] He first encountered creationism during his studies in America – he thought it an "American oddity".[1]

Career

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Edis is professor of physics at Truman State University.[1]

Skepticism

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Edis's research "focuses on paranormal and supernatural claims and explores what their failures say about the nature of science". He is particularly interested in Islamic creationism and the American intelligent design movement.[5] Edis has been called "a liberal atheist, secular humanist and a zealous proselyte of scientific reason".[6]

Fascinated by the plethora of supernatural and fringe science beliefs around him, and concerned about the rise of Islamist politics back in Turkey, Edis first got involved with skeptical inquiry into religious and paranormal claims during his graduate studies. "Science is difficult," states Edis to Point of Inquiry interviewer D.J. Grothe in answer to a question about why science has not replaced religion. Edis explains to his students that they will have difficulty understanding this "because the human brain is not wired to understand something like quantum mechanics and neutrinos correctly, it's a struggle."[7] In an interview with Susan Gerbic at CSICon, Edis characterized his more recent writings on the subjects of science and skepticism by saying that "it might [even] be rational to believe in certain falsehoods. The argument turns on the costs of acquiring and possessing beliefs; sometimes truth is just too costly."[8]

Edis has given several lectures about Islamic creationism. One of his premises is that creationism in the United States is quite moderate compared to Islamic countries. Turkey for example, despite being known as a secular state, has high levels of belief in a young Earth. This is because the textbooks and curriculum in the schools do not offer both evolution and creationism, but only creationism. Teaching evolution is not part of the syllabus at all.[9][10][8] Grothe asked Taner in 2007 if he thought that Islam could be compatible with western science. His answer was that it just depends on the type of Islam. As in Christianity there are both liberal and conservative Muslims. The more liberal their views the more compatible they are with science.[3]

Concerning crop circles Edis wrote that we know how these are created, we know the techniques. "So we do not need to find the perpetrator of every crop circle to figure out that probably they all are human made. Many true believers remain who continue to think there is something paranormal — perhaps alien — about crop circles. But the circles we know all fall within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes. Nothing stands out as extraordinary."[11]

One thing I think we need to be more impressed with, is how naturally religion comes to a normal human mind. ... It is not so much death of perception of supernatural agents all around us, it's that organized religion has lost its ability to convince people. That's very different than people becoming science-minded skeptics and rationalists... it's religion fading away that is the default."[7]

Reception

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Edis was an editor of the book Why Intelligent Design Fails, which has received positive reviews.[12][13][14] His book The Ghost in the Universe received the Morris D. Forkosch Book Award for "Best Humanist Book of 2002"[15]

Reviewing Edis's 2016 book, Islam evolving: radicalism, reformation, and the uneasy relationship with the secular West, J.P. Dunn writes that Edis gives a wide-ranging exposition of how the Qur'an has been variously interpreted to provide an alternative to Western beliefs, and that this will "challenge, offend, and enlighten" the book's readers.[6]

Within the context of Islam and science, Algerian astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum categorizes Edis as a kind of "anti-harmonizer", who rejects the possibility that the two systems are reconciled. Guessoum writes that while Edis acknowledges that modern thinkers within Islam do not fully embrace anti-scientific religious dogmas, Edis is also "unhappy" that the materialist nature of science is not fully embraced.[16]

Philosopher John Gray reviewed Edis's 2006 book, An Illusion of Harmony: Science and religion in Islam for The New Scientist. Gray writes that Edis's thesis is that there is a fundamental incompatibility between Islam and science because of the religion's dogmatic precepts. Gray calls Edis's work "one of the few recent books that truly illuminates the troubled relationship between science and religion".[17]

Selected publications

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  • Edis, T. (2021). Weirdness! What Fake Science and the Paranormal Tell Us about the Nature of Science. United States: Pitchstone Publishing. ISBN 9781634312127.
  • Edis, T. (2016). Islam Evolving: Radicalism, Reformation, and the Uneasy Relationship with the Secular West. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-63388-189-1. OCLC 940455332.
  • Edis, T. (2007). An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781591024491. OCLC 71948044.
  • Edis, T. (2006). Science and Nonbelief. Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313330780. OCLC 61131830.
  • Young, Matt; Edis, Taner, eds. (2004). Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3433-X. LCCN 2003020100. OCLC 59717533.
  • Edis, T. (2002). The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781573929776. OCLC 694847577.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Kenneth Chang (November 2, 2009). "Creationism, Minus a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World". New York Times.
  2. ^ "Curriculum Vitae: Taner Edis". Truman State University. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Grothe, D.J. (April 27, 2007). "Taner Edis - Science and Religion in Islam". Point of Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Cornelia Dean (July 7, 2007). "Islamic Creationist and a Book Sent Round the World". New York Times.
  5. ^ C. Mackenzie Brown, ed. (2020). Asian Religious Responses to Darwinism: Evolutionary Theories in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian Cultural Contexts. Springer. p. 36. ISBN 9783030373405.
  6. ^ a b Dunn, JP (2016). "Islam evolving: radicalism, reformation, and the uneasy relationship with the secular West". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (Book review). 54 (3). American Library Association.
  7. ^ a b Grothe, D.J. (June 6, 2008). "Taner Edis - Science and Nonbelief". Point of Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Gerbic, Susan (July 31, 2017). "The Age of Misinformation is More Global Than We Might Think". Skeptical Inquiry. Committee For Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  9. ^ "Ehab Abouheif & Taner Edis on Evolution and Islam". TV Islam Science. Hampshire College. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  10. ^ Edis, Taner. "Taner Edis Reasonfest 2013". Reason Fest 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  11. ^ Edis, Taner (2008). Science and Nonbelief. Prometheus Books. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-59102-561-0.
  12. ^ Menuge, Angus J. L. (2008). Reviewed Work: Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism by Matt Young, Taner Edis. Politics and the Life Sciences. Vol. 27, No. 2 pp. 52-54.
  13. ^ Sepkoski, David (2006). "Worldviews in Collision: Recent Literature on the Creation–Evolution Divide". Journal of the History of Biology. 39 (3): 607–635. doi:10.1007/s10739-006-9000-0. JSTOR 4332034. S2CID 83655972.
  14. ^ Pigliucci, Massimo (2005). "More than You Ever Wanted to Know about Intelligent Design". Evolution. 59 (12): 2717–2720. doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb00983.x. JSTOR 3449064.
  15. ^ "Forkosch Awards". Council for Secular Humanism. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  16. ^ Guessoum, Nidhal (2015). "Islam And Science: The Next Phase Of Debates". Zygon. 50 (4): 854–876. doi:10.1111/zygo.12213. ISSN 0591-2385.
  17. ^ Gray J (2007). "Different faith, same struggle". New Scientist (Book review). 193 (2592): 50. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(07)60486-2.
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