Replies

"I did not say there is one. I said there may be one. Unlike you, I am not inclined to rule things out when it comes to the practice of science."

If there is no way to test your *feeling* that a designer exists, than it is not science, it is useless. Unlike you, I am not inclined to trust any old feeling or fancy that comes into my brain; in order to gain any confidence I need to test my feelings against the world. I want outside support. I want other to people to critique my ideas so they can become stronger.

One thing you said above is worth repeating:

"Unlike you, I am not inclined to rule things out when it comes to the practice of science."

THAT is why you will never get what science is. You want to include everything under the umbrella of science. You refuse to rule anything out. All claims are to you scientific (or else you didn't really mean what you said above.) Physical, nonphysical, supernatural; it's all the same to you. Evidence, supposition, wild guess, hallucination; no reason to rule out any of these.

"On the contrary, tautologies are of value both logically and scientifically."

They are scientifically dead statements. They can lead to no new knowledge. They can't be tested and they can't be falsified. They lead to intellectual death.

"But even intuition and feelings have a place in science. Those who deny it build themselves a weak soapbox. It is you who are operating with a false notion of science, both in regard to its practice and limitations."

Only as a first step perhaps. Those intuitions and feelings are just subjective musings unless you can base them in the real world by testing them. Unless of course you lack the courage to do so.

All claims are to you scientific . . .

Nope. You have a comprehension problem, and a bad paint brush. Science is not at liberty to declare the ulimate cause behind physical matter as absolutely unattainable. You want science to say what it is not a liberty to say. You and your ilk would like to force science into your own little hermetically-sealed genie bottle.

Science is already very capable of identifying intelligence and design. In many cases the work of a craftsman can be scientfically analyzed to the extent the craftsman can be ascertained physically. In fact, in many cases it is very simple. From this it is hardly unreasonable to leave open the matter of how, or whether, there is a personal, intelligent designer in cases where it has not yet been identified.