Other Side of the Coyne: A Review of Why Evolution Is True

Jerry Coyne wrote Why Evolution Is True expecting to settle the matter. Douglas Wilson read it chapter by chapter and proceeded to have a field day. In this short, sharp pamphlet, Wilson dissects Coyne's evolutionary arguments with a scalpel and a smirk, exposing the philosophical presuppositions buried beneath the scientific confidence, poking at the rhetorical condescension, and deploying the kind of hilariously apt metaphors that make his critics uncomfortable and his readers happy. This isn't a comprehensive rebuttal of evolutionary theory, Wilson isn't pretending to write a textbook. It's something more fun: a witty takedown of the patronizing certainty with which Coyne lectures his opposition, combined with a sharp-eyed examination of what Coyne actually assumes before he starts arguing. Presuppositions, as it turns out, do a lot of heavy lifting in the evolution debate, and Wilson is very good at finding them and holding them up to the light. Bite-sized and readable in a sitting or two, this pamphlet is part of Wilson's broader series of punchy short-form engagements with cultural hot topics, just the right size to hand to a friend and just sharp enough to make them think.