RE: Sorry, but there is only one scientific method, and its first rule is: natural explanations for natural processes.
OK, I agree with that UP TO A POINT.
But remember, if the cause of something is SUPERNATURAL, then the scientific method can only get us so far. And if a philosophical naturalist INSISTS that all there is, is natural explanation, then we won’t any closer to the truth.
And let’s remind ourselves of one thing — calling something a “theory” says little about the degree of certainty backing the idea.
A theory describes aspects of nature that are beyond (or beneath) what we can observe, aspects that can be used to explain what we observe. Thus, some theories are true (atomic theory), some are false (caloric theory), and the scientific method is what directs us in deciding which are which.
The next question is this Does Intelligent Design (ID) meet this definition of theory?
I am inclined to say “yes”.
ID is a theory of design detection, and it proposes intelligent agency as a mechanism causing biological change. ID allows us to explain how aspects of observed biological complexity, and other natural complexity, arose. And it uses the scientific method to make its claims.
How?
The scientific method is commonly described as a four-step process involving observations, hypothesis, experiments, and conclusion.
ID begins with the OBSERVATION that intelligent agents produce complex and specified information (CSI) <-— William Dembski’s term.
Design theorists hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it will contain high levels of CSI.
Scientists can then perform experimental tests upon natural objects to determine if they contain complex and specified information.
One easily testable form of CSI is irreducible complexity (Michael Behe’s term), which can be tested for by reverse-engineering biological structures through genetic knockout experiments to determine if they require all of their parts to function.
When scientists experimentally uncover irreducible complexity in a biological structure, they conclude that it was designed.
Michael Behe of Lehigh University did just that and detailed his findings in the book — THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION.