I presume someone who took this argument seriously would say that either a) that’s its ok to use the term if they stop making ridiculous claims about ideology or b) suggest “mainstream biologists” or “evolution proponents” both of which are wordy but accurate (I don’t think that even ID proponents would generally disagree with the point that they aren’t the mainstream opinion among biologists.)
Do you expect that, in general, people should never use the form “X-ist”, but rather, use “X proponent”? Should evolution proponents use “Intelligent Design advocate” and “creation advocate”?
If a belief doesn’t fit an ideological or religious framework, I think that X-ist and ism are often bad. I actually use the phrases “ID proponent” fairly often partially for this reason. I’m not sure however that this case is completely symmetric given that ID proponents self-identify as part of the “intelligent design movement” (a term used for example repeatedly by William Dembski and occasionally by Michael Behe.)
I presume someone who took this argument seriously would say that either a) that’s its ok to use the term if they stop making ridiculous claims about ideology or b) suggest “mainstream biologists” or “evolution proponents” both of which are wordy but accurate (I don’t think that even ID proponents would generally disagree with the point that they aren’t the mainstream opinion among biologists.)
Do you expect that, in general, people should never use the form “X-ist”, but rather, use “X proponent”? Should evolution proponents use “Intelligent Design advocate” and “creation advocate”?
If a belief doesn’t fit an ideological or religious framework, I think that X-ist and ism are often bad. I actually use the phrases “ID proponent” fairly often partially for this reason. I’m not sure however that this case is completely symmetric given that ID proponents self-identify as part of the “intelligent design movement” (a term used for example repeatedly by William Dembski and occasionally by Michael Behe.)