A Sad Day for Intellectualism and Science

Christopher Hitchens  died yesterday after a long fight with esophageal cancer.  I’m sure some of us would not agree with many of his thoughts on politics or religion,however we can all agree, he was a staunch advocate of science and science education. Hitchens  spoke out against creationism (refusing to use the phrase Intelligent Design) and wrote many articles pointing  out the obvious flaws in its idea. In his last essay, “How blind salamands make nonsense of creationist claims”  Hitchens shows the likelihood that the post-ocular blindness of underground salamanders is another aspect of evolution by natural selection.  He was a huge influence in the media with the mastery of  logical argument. Science and intellectualism has lost a great ambassador

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2 Responses to A Sad Day for Intellectualism and Science

  1. David Galiel says:

    Indeed. However, the essay you link to was submitted by Hitch on July 21,2008.

    Hardly his “last essay”, even in Slate, where is last essay was published Nov 28, 2011, and is purely political in nature (though no less rational for it):

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2011/11/perry_cain_gingrich_bachmann_the_gaffes_of_the_republican_presidential_field_.html

    His final essay before his death will appear in in Vanity Fair’s January 2012 edition. It is available online here:
    http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/01/hitchens-201201

    Titled “Trial of the Will”, it challenges, in classic Hitchens fashion, the aphorism “that which does not kill you makes you stronger”. Faced with his imminent demise, Hitchens did not shrink from telling the truth as he understood it.

    I didn’t search for his last science-related essay, but I’ve read many that were published long after the 2008 one.

    Either way, his wit, often infuriating contrarianism, and uncompromising commitment to intellectual honesty will be missed.

  2. Jonathan Smith says:

    Thank you David, My wording was not the best,what I should have said that it was his last essay on Creationism.

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