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Author Topic:   I.D. proponents: Make up your mind!
Fiver
Junior Member (Idle past 4985 days)
Posts: 26
From: Provo, UT
Joined: 04-17-2010


(1)
Message 1 of 62 (563003)
06-02-2010 8:22 PM


I generally feel that Intelligent Design is pseudoscience, and here I wanted to present one point which convinces me of this, and hopefully hear some responses from I.D. proponents.
My stance is that Intelligent Design is not science, but rather is a religious viewpoint (or, to give more credit, a philosophy). My evidence is the fact that Intelligent Design doesn't seem to apply to any single area of study... it's not about physics, or geology. It's not even about biology or cosmology. Instead, it's just about... well... everything.
Real science isn't like that at all. Real science is focused in on a particular idea, aspect, or area of study. Even wide-reaching theories in science are fairly narrow in their application (Germ Theory deals only with micro-organisms. The Theory of Evolution deals with the diversity of life. The Theory of Relativity deals with large-scale physics, etc.)
Originally, Intelligent Design was presented as an opposing viewpoint to the Theory of Evolution, suggesting that it was a hypothesis within Biology. Then, traditional philosophical arguments for God (like the Kalaam Cosmological Argument or the Anthropic Principle) were applied to astronomy and also given the label of "Intelligent Design" (although it was much harder to pass these off as 'alternatives' to real cosmological theories like the Big Bang Theory). But eventually, Intelligent Design arguments extended to address the formation of the first life itself, the generation of chemical and physical laws, even aspects of mathematics!
So what is it, I.D. proponents? What is Intelligent Design about? Is it an area of Biology? Or of chemistry? Or of physics?

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by tesla, posted 06-02-2010 10:30 PM Fiver has not replied
 Message 7 by subbie, posted 06-02-2010 11:34 PM Fiver has replied
 Message 15 by AnswersInGenitals, posted 06-04-2010 3:47 PM Fiver has not replied
 Message 35 by Blue Jay, posted 06-10-2010 5:56 PM Fiver has not replied

  
Fiver
Junior Member (Idle past 4985 days)
Posts: 26
From: Provo, UT
Joined: 04-17-2010


Message 8 of 62 (563061)
06-03-2010 3:04 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by subbie
06-02-2010 11:34 PM


quote:
It's about trying to create doubt about any area of science that undermines their religion. Simple.
I think you're right here, actually. Most Intelligent Design discussions that I've seen work by simply muddying the waters on the current science and hoping that this proves Intelligent Design by default. I've never read any Intelligent Design book which tries to add onto the idea in anything but a strictly biblical way.
If there were scientific evidence of life having been specially and intelligently designed, the next logical areas to explore would include...
1. What methods were used to build life?
2. Where and when did the building of life take place?
3. Where is the division between variation in life that happens naturally and variation that is due to the intelligent design?
The list goes on...

This message is a reply to:
 Message 7 by subbie, posted 06-02-2010 11:34 PM subbie has seen this message but not replied

  
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