Thursday, April 28, 2005

Does “Intelligent Design” Threaten the Definition of Science?

Does “Intelligent Design” Threaten the Definition of Science?
(National Geographic News)
Intelligent-design theory states that certain features of the natural world are of such complexity that the most plausible explanation is that they are products of an intelligent cause rather than random mutation and natural selection. Supporters of the theory say the nature of the intelligent cause is outside the scope of the theory.

“It matches what a lot of people see. It matches peoples’ intuitions about biology,” said Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Of course, intuition-matching has been the primary driving force behind relativity theory and quantum mechanics.

[…]

The intelligent-design movement, Miller said, seeks to allow a non-natural explanation into science. “By altering the definition of science, they seek a playing field where the supernatural can have scientific meaning.”

Excellent. So we’ll have supernaturalists studying mysterious flagellal phenomena from now on. Cool.

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