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Draft of anti-ID letter to the editor

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Author Topic:   Draft of anti-ID letter to the editor
mike the wiz
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Posts: 4755
From: u.k
Joined: 05-24-2003

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Message 4 of 17 (409570)
07-10-2007 8:53 AM 		Reply to: Message 1 by Minnemooseus
07-10-2007 5:36 AM

The latter letter later
Well, aesthetically, I can only see that you spelt "latter" as "later". Or did you mean later? Or am I wrong? Other than that, I'd say it's as succinct as it can be.
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As for agreement/disagreement with what you said in the letter, I assume that's not what you're interested in. But I'm tempted to say that one of the only Theistic-argument/s I see as having worth are also the one/s you seem to be promoting somewhat.
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If I were to reply to your letter, I'd say that a better conclusion for Theists, would be to infer that there is some sort of intelligence either within nature itself, or from an inexplicable source.
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We seek an inexplicable intelligent source POSSIBLY. Well, we have intelligence in lifeforms, and entities (gods), therefore it's a lifeform or entity(gods).
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We seek an inexplicable X.
A, B, and C have explicable X
Therefore it is A B or C. (Animal, god or alien).
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As you can see, such reasoning is not sound, because by observation, what we are looking for is inexplicable and because we only relate intelligence to entities, doesn't mean that's the answer. The actual matter isn't that simple, as once again it could be that the impression of intelligence is an illusion, but at a deeper level.
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 Message 7 by anastasia, posted 07-10-2007 12:32 PM mike the wiz has replied
  
mike the wiz
Member
Posts: 4755
From: u.k
Joined: 05-24-2003

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Message 9 of 17 (409604)
07-10-2007 1:22 PM 		Reply to: Message 7 by anastasia
07-10-2007 12:32 PM

Re: The latter letter later
One of the problems with ID and creationism is that they are ideas which arise expressly from a belief in a transcendent entity.
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Yes - that's a problem, as one can never infer that God is the cause of a thing it seems, as God will always be invoked posteriori. Therefore nobody can ever predict that an intelligence is at work without people thinking that the person is claiming that God did it.
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But if there is a genuine cause to consider an intelligent agent of some sort, then the person's beliefs should not matter. A Theist can also not have an ulterior motive.
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I, for example, consider myself a Theist, but I don't see that this intelligence necessarily has anything to do with God - as there could be a natural explanation, which there usually is.
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