Recently a legal case here in Pennsylvania made national headlines. A judge in Dover, PA ruled that Intelligent Design could not be taught in the science curriculum of the town’s local high school. We probably think that it does not impact too many of us unless we are strongly into the Intelligent Design movement or strongly against the theory of evolution. However, I would suggest that this decision has its greatest impact upon the chiropractic profession in general, and the science, art and philosophy of chiropractic in particular.v21n3
For any one out there who may not be familiar with Intelligent Design, it is a theory that maintains that the irreducible complexity of living organisms, especially at the molecular level, renders the potential for an organism to evolve impossible. They further maintain that this complexity requires a creative intelligence. Sounds pretty good to us chiropractors doesn’t it? They purposely stop short of calling this creative intelligence God and maintain that in doing so, their theories deserve examination by the scientific community and that students in the science classroom deserve equal exposure to the concept. Unfortunately, the scientists disagreed. Those teaching the science curriculum maintained that this is a thinly veiled attempt to bring religion into science. The Courts (at least in Dover, PA) agreed and the teaching of Intelligent Design is not allowed in the science curriculum.
What I find interesting about the issue is that the scientific community is not against teaching Intelligent Design. For the most part, they have no problem with teaching the subject, just as long as it is not in the science curriculum. What they are saying is that since this smacks of the metaphysical, an “Intelligent Designer,” it does not fall into the science curriculum. It can be taught as something else, they don’t care what, they just don’t want it called science. The scientific community has spoken and the courts have agreed.
So how does this impact upon chiropractic? I see it having a great impact. If science is adamant about Intelligent Design not getting a foot in the door, they are definitely not going to allow chiropractors to get one third of their entire body (the philosophy) into the door. They realize that if you allow Intelligent Design into the science curriculum, you change science forever. They fear it will return to the days of the alchemist and when the church (supposedly) had tyrannical rule over science. Everyone is always afraid of the “foot in the door principle.” That’s why pro-choice people do not want a grotesque, horrible procedure like partial birth abortions outlawed and the NRA does not want assault rifles outlawed. The pro-choice people can’t help but think that the real objective is banning abortion and the NRA believes that the real objective is getting rid of all gun ownership.
In a similar manner, the scientists will not even look at Intelligent Design as science. The Intelligent Design people will just keep on trying, to “scientize” their theories more, in an effort to gain acceptance, but they never will because the scientists believe that in the end, they are presenting religion.
So where does that leave us in chiropractic? Well, those in our profession and outside our profession will never accept our philosophy. They are always calling our philosophy religion. Unfortunately, much of our history gives them reason to say that. Non-therapeutic chiropractic has clarified the philosophy and taken out the religious overtones. But that is not enough. Chiropractic, in their mind, cannot exist as a science and philosophy. The two are mutually exclusive. We maintain that the philosophy and science complement each other. They maintain there is no relationship and we must make a choice-either we are a science like evolution (which it really is not) or we are a non-science like Intelligent Design. We cannot live in both camps. It is true that there are some vitalistic scientists in the chiropractic community, some that can easily put the science and philosophy together. They know that science can never come up with all the answers in the human experience when there is a metaphysical component to human beings. These are the people that you meet at a Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic International Research and Philosophy Symposium seminar. But by and large they are a small minority and, like the brilliant scientists who are working on Intelligent Design, their voices are being drowned out by the mechanists.
Where do we go from here? I don’t know. My inclination would be to follow the lead of the Intelligent Design people who are like the bunny that just keeps on going. Like them, we should overwhelm the people with such a mass of reason, logic, facts and knowledge that the public will sit up and take notice of what we do despite the ranting of scientism. We need to bring so much truth to the public forum that despite the mechanistic outcry that “you’re not scientific” the public will realize that science does not have all the answers to mankind’s problems and perhaps this non-scientific philosophy has part of the answer. V21n3