lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) (06/01/84)
In a net.religion article, I commented that I took great comfort that the staff of the Wheaton Public Library classified Morris's SCIENTIFIC CREATIONISM under the religion section. Larry Bickford sent me mail reminding me that this was done under the constraint of the Dewey Decimal System. I had known that this system provides a guide, but I was thinking of the possibility of them classifying it along with the evolution books. I consulted the manual at the desk in the library, and came up with some interesting findings. First, Larry has a real point. The DDS has two redundant classifications for creation. One is 213, with several subjections including 213.??, "Evolution as creation" (sorry about the ?? but the Library was closing) The other is under the major heading, 231, God. It is 231.765, creation. SCIENTIFIC CREATIONSIM is classified under 231.765. The former has another subsection for controversy, and there is a source book there on "Evolution vs. Religion", which I have read. This section is right next to the "science and religion" classification, which contains SCIENCE PONDERS RELIGION, which I recently reported on. The surprise comes under the evolution category. 575 is labelled "Organic Evolution and Genetics". It contains Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES and other evolutionary titles including, THREE BILLION YEARS OF LIFE. 575.01 contains "THE ORIGINS OF LIFE, EVOLUTION AS CREATION" (!), as well as GEORGES CUVIER, ZOOLOGIST. 575.01 also contains Gish's tract, EVOLUTION, THE FOSSILS SAY NO, adjacent to Gould's tome, ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY. Moving on to 577, "General nature of life", we find Cyril Pomnamperuma's book on the origin's of life, an older tome entitled THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH, and an evidently misclassified CREATION - EVOLUTION, THE CONTROVERSY. 578 begins with EXPLORING WITH YOUR MICROSCOPE. 575 through 577 take up ten shelves of about 25 books each. I think the point I was seeking in Morris's classification is actually made by the inclusion of scientific theories of life in these science classifications, in spite of the classification labelled "Evolution as creation". People make the distinction along the line of science/religion easily and naturally, rather than uniting them by their common concern with origins. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew