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Italian scientists rally behind evolution
By Frederica Saylor
At the beginning of March, members of Italy’s scientific community were called to action. Their impetus? A decree by the ministry of education to remove evolutionary theory from middle school science curriculum.
Letizia Moratti, Italy’s minister of education, university and scientific research, recently instituted the “Moratti Reforms,” a compilation of proposals spanning all aspects of education and curricula. Though the removal of teaching evolution was a small point in the grand scheme, it was not overlooked. In fact, it spurred an international appeal to the ministry to rescind the proposal, which Moratti accepted shortly thereafter.
This segment of the reform was proposed by Giuseppe Bertagna, a professor of philosophy of education at the University of Bergamo who headed the council to review Italian education policies, whom some in the scientific disciplines believe to be a political extremist and uninformed about evolutionary theory, said Ilaria Guaraldi Vinassa de Regny, director of public relations for the Museum of Natural History in Milan and co-author of the appeal.
“When the scientific community heard about the decision, there was a wave of protest,” said de Regny. “The theory of evolution gives meaning to all biology; it is the key to interpreting biology.”
De Regny composed the appeal with Luca Cavalli-Sforza, an emeritus professor of genetics at Stanford University, and Telmo Pievani, a philosophy of science professor at the University of Milan, Bicocca. The document was then e-mailed to a number of colleagues in the field throughout Italy. It circulated more quickly than they anticipated and soon amassed more than 1,000 signatures worldwide, including Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.
The effect of the letter was surprising, said Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, The State University of New York, and founder of “Darwin Days,” an international program to discuss evolution.
“In a matter of days, the ministry retracted the whole idea,” said Pigliucci. “Compare that to the many letters scientists here send to the Bush administration and what the response is there — usually nothing.”
Pigliucci made other comparisons to the United States; Italians are more trusting of scientists, compared to many cynical Americans, and the evolution debate in Italy is political in nature, not religious like in the States.
“Creationism in the U.S. is one particular aspect of a more general and widespread anti-intellectualism that permeates U.S. society,” Pigliucci said. “Europeans by and large are trusting of scientists because they are not anti-intellectuals. Since the Enlightenment, they’ve decided generally that they’re not going to trust religious authorities in these things; they’re going to trust the experts.”
After learning about the official appeal, La Repubblica, a daily newspaper in Italy, posted a similar letter to the ministry on its Web site. In one week, more than 46,000 Italian citizens added their names in protest to the reform.
Religion allied with debate
In a country that is 97 percent Catholic, the separation between scientific and religious authority is clear. In 1996, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that evolution and faith in God are not mutually exclusive. In an official message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he said, “We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth … In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences.”
The Rev. George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, said that evolution is a scientific conclusion that does not deny the existence of God. “Whether evolution is true or not is a separate issue,” he said. “It’s true from a scientific view. God could create an evolutionary world just as He could create a static world.”
Pigliucci explained that anti-evolutionist sentiment in Italy is a part of an extreme right-wing political minority that links evolution to Marxism and is uninformed about accurate Darwinian theory. This connection, though, is weak, he said. Out of admiration, Marx wanted to dedicate the capitol to Darwin, but the naturalist refused, recognizing that any political affiliation could taint his scientific credibility.
Denouncing evolution because of an aversion to Marxism is a social misapplication, Pigliucci added. “If you don’t like the atomic bomb, it doesn’t make atomic theory wrong,” he said. “That’s the sort of fallacy they’re engaging in.”
The ministry of education also argued that evolutionary theory may be too complex for middle school students to understand. Pigliucci said he disagrees.
“We all know that science, like anything else, needs to be explained at a level that is appropriate to the audience,” he said. “So if someone wants to teach the complexities of quantum mechanics or even evolutionary theory at the middle school level, it’s not going to fly. But the challenge of the educator is how to introduce students to concepts at an early age. The two basic theories of evolution are simple; you can explain that to any student of any age.”
Cavalli-Sforza, whose research has focused on the last 100,000 years of human evolution, said teaching biology without evolution is defrauding people of truth. He added that waiting until high school to introduce evolution might preclude a great number of students from learning the theory at all. “At the moment, school is not yet compulsory in Italy after 15,” he said. “So perhaps these children would never learn about evolution if these programs were enacted.” Additionally, students who continue their education in vocational schools would also be deprived.
De Regny said it is crucial to have the teaching at the middle school level. “A child needs to grow up understanding biodiversity and the changes that there are and that there have been,” she said. “If we want responsible citizens regarding the teachings that are involved in everyday life, they must know them from the beginning.”
Overwhelmed with protest —from both the scientific community and the general public — Moratti retracted the proposal within a week. In an official statement, she said: “The teaching of Darwin’s theories are ensured starting in elementary school. A commission headed by Rita Levi-Montalcini will work with me to develop a precise proposal.” The commission has not yet determined when to begin discussions.
De Regny said she and her colleagues are grateful that Levi-Montalcini, a senator and the 1986 Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine, is at the helm of this commission, but that they anxiously await a final decision.
Frederica Saylor is health editor of Science & Theology News.
By Frederica Saylor
At the beginning of March, members of Italy’s scientific community were called to action. Their impetus? A decree by the ministry of education to remove evolutionary theory from middle school science curriculum.
Letizia Moratti, Italy’s minister of education, university and scientific research, recently instituted the “Moratti Reforms,” a compilation of proposals spanning all aspects of education and curricula. Though the removal of teaching evolution was a small point in the grand scheme, it was not overlooked. In fact, it spurred an international appeal to the ministry to rescind the proposal, which Moratti accepted shortly thereafter.
This segment of the reform was proposed by Giuseppe Bertagna, a professor of philosophy of education at the University of Bergamo who headed the council to review Italian education policies, whom some in the scientific disciplines believe to be a political extremist and uninformed about evolutionary theory, said Ilaria Guaraldi Vinassa de Regny, director of public relations for the Museum of Natural History in Milan and co-author of the appeal.
“When the scientific community heard about the decision, there was a wave of protest,” said de Regny. “The theory of evolution gives meaning to all biology; it is the key to interpreting biology.”
De Regny composed the appeal with Luca Cavalli-Sforza, an emeritus professor of genetics at Stanford University, and Telmo Pievani, a philosophy of science professor at the University of Milan, Bicocca. The document was then e-mailed to a number of colleagues in the field throughout Italy. It circulated more quickly than they anticipated and soon amassed more than 1,000 signatures worldwide, including Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.
The effect of the letter was surprising, said Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, The State University of New York, and founder of “Darwin Days,” an international program to discuss evolution.
“In a matter of days, the ministry retracted the whole idea,” said Pigliucci. “Compare that to the many letters scientists here send to the Bush administration and what the response is there — usually nothing.”
Pigliucci made other comparisons to the United States; Italians are more trusting of scientists, compared to many cynical Americans, and the evolution debate in Italy is political in nature, not religious like in the States.
“Creationism in the U.S. is one particular aspect of a more general and widespread anti-intellectualism that permeates U.S. society,” Pigliucci said. “Europeans by and large are trusting of scientists because they are not anti-intellectuals. Since the Enlightenment, they’ve decided generally that they’re not going to trust religious authorities in these things; they’re going to trust the experts.”
After learning about the official appeal, La Repubblica, a daily newspaper in Italy, posted a similar letter to the ministry on its Web site. In one week, more than 46,000 Italian citizens added their names in protest to the reform.
Religion allied with debate
In a country that is 97 percent Catholic, the separation between scientific and religious authority is clear. In 1996, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that evolution and faith in God are not mutually exclusive. In an official message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he said, “We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth … In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences.”
The Rev. George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, said that evolution is a scientific conclusion that does not deny the existence of God. “Whether evolution is true or not is a separate issue,” he said. “It’s true from a scientific view. God could create an evolutionary world just as He could create a static world.”
Pigliucci explained that anti-evolutionist sentiment in Italy is a part of an extreme right-wing political minority that links evolution to Marxism and is uninformed about accurate Darwinian theory. This connection, though, is weak, he said. Out of admiration, Marx wanted to dedicate the capitol to Darwin, but the naturalist refused, recognizing that any political affiliation could taint his scientific credibility.
Denouncing evolution because of an aversion to Marxism is a social misapplication, Pigliucci added. “If you don’t like the atomic bomb, it doesn’t make atomic theory wrong,” he said. “That’s the sort of fallacy they’re engaging in.”
The ministry of education also argued that evolutionary theory may be too complex for middle school students to understand. Pigliucci said he disagrees.
“We all know that science, like anything else, needs to be explained at a level that is appropriate to the audience,” he said. “So if someone wants to teach the complexities of quantum mechanics or even evolutionary theory at the middle school level, it’s not going to fly. But the challenge of the educator is how to introduce students to concepts at an early age. The two basic theories of evolution are simple; you can explain that to any student of any age.”
Cavalli-Sforza, whose research has focused on the last 100,000 years of human evolution, said teaching biology without evolution is defrauding people of truth. He added that waiting until high school to introduce evolution might preclude a great number of students from learning the theory at all. “At the moment, school is not yet compulsory in Italy after 15,” he said. “So perhaps these children would never learn about evolution if these programs were enacted.” Additionally, students who continue their education in vocational schools would also be deprived.
De Regny said it is crucial to have the teaching at the middle school level. “A child needs to grow up understanding biodiversity and the changes that there are and that there have been,” she said. “If we want responsible citizens regarding the teachings that are involved in everyday life, they must know them from the beginning.”
Overwhelmed with protest —from both the scientific community and the general public — Moratti retracted the proposal within a week. In an official statement, she said: “The teaching of Darwin’s theories are ensured starting in elementary school. A commission headed by Rita Levi-Montalcini will work with me to develop a precise proposal.” The commission has not yet determined when to begin discussions.
De Regny said she and her colleagues are grateful that Levi-Montalcini, a senator and the 1986 Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine, is at the helm of this commission, but that they anxiously await a final decision.
Frederica Saylor is health editor of Science & Theology News.