Science & Tech Quote by Michael Behe

Behe’s line is a neat piece of rhetorical judo: declare victory in a culture-war argument, then wrap yourself in the lab coat to preempt the obvious objection that you’re anti-science. “Undirected evolution” is doing heavy lifting here. In mainstream biology, evolution isn’t a single “theory” in the casual sense but a framework supported by genetics, selection, drift, and deep time. By narrowing the target to “undirected,” Behe can suggest that what’s “dead” is not evolution per se, but the idea that complexity arises without purposeful steering - a claim that quietly clears space for intelligent design without naming it.

The second clause - “but the work of science continues” - is the tell. It’s an attempt to keep the credibility of scientific method while rejecting a central pillar of contemporary life science. The subtext reads: you can be rigorous, empirical, even innovative, and still conclude that natural processes are insufficient. That’s not just an argument about evidence; it’s a bid to redefine what counts as a legitimate scientific explanation, shifting the boundary between methodological naturalism (science explains via natural causes) and metaphysical naturalism (only natural causes exist).

Context matters: Behe rose to prominence with Darwin’s Black Box and became a signature figure in intelligent design debates, including the Dover trial era, when “teach the controversy” politics tried to smuggle theological commitments into science classrooms. The quote’s intent isn’t to summarize the field; it’s to frame the field as overdue for a paradigm shift - and to make that shift sound like business as usual.