C. W. Howell is the historian who, in his book Designer Science: A History of Intelligent Design in America, attacked biochemist Michael Behe with a supposed “damning admission” that Behe never said. Howell claimed that Behe “confessed on the stand [at the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial] that the ‘plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God.’”
It was a false and defamatory charge, reflecting Howell’s sloppy research. Correctly, the book’s first edition was withdrawn by New York University Press.
It was based on Howell’s PhD dissertation, which Duke University “removed from public access” after being informed of the lousy scholarship. Now a revised version of the dissertation has been posted by Duke. Does Howell come clean about what he did? Nope.
An Imaginary Smoking Dud
The ethical thing would have been to apologize and admit the seriousness of his mistake. His smoking gun, after all, wasn’t just a dud. It was imaginary.
In the revised dissertation, the fake quote is gone and replaced with new material. The link to where his dissertation was originally located is now headed by an enigmatic statement:
This item has moved to a new location
This version of the item you are trying to access has been withdrawn. The item is now available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10161/35698
That is followed by an “Author note,” advising that
The first version of this dissertation included on page 167 a quote that was misattributed to the biochemist Michael Behe. The quote — which comes from the Kitzmiller v. Dover opinion by Judge John E. Jones, III — was written by Judge Jones about Behe, not said by Behe himself. It has been removed, and a later remark about it on page 232 has been corrected.
He mentions another “emendation” as well.
The “Misattribution” Excuse
Without getting into all the details again on this (see our earlier coverage here), note that Dr. Howell has opted for the “misattribution” excuse. His claim that “the quote… was written by Judge Jones” is false, because Judge Jones didn’t write those words. The ACLU did.
But to acknowledge that fact would mean he would have to acknowledge that Judge Jones copied from the ACLU, badly misrepresenting Behe in the process. Evidently, Howell as a historian can’t let himself acknowledge the sloppiness of Judge Jones, perhaps because it’s a measure of his own sloppiness.
What a mess, which still awaits someone cleaning it up. You’ve heard of fake news. This is fake history.