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'Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics': Supernatural Selection
The New York Times ^ | 14 April 2002 | JIM HOLT

Posted on 04/14/2002 12:31:25 AM PDT by sourcery

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April 14, 2002

'Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics': Supernatural Selection

By JIM HOLT

INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONISM AND ITS CRITICS
Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives.

Edited by Robert T. Pennock.
Illustrated. 805 pp. Cambridge, Mass.: A Bradford Book/The MIT Press. Cloth, $110. Paper, $45.



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In the last decade or so, creationism has grown sophisticated. Oh, the old-fashioned creationists are still around, especially in the Bible Belt. They're the ones who believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old, that God created it and all its inhabitants in six days and that fossils are a product of Noah's flood. In the early 1990's, however, a new breed of creationists appeared. These ''neo-creos,'' as they have been called, are no Dogpatch hayseeds. They have Ph.D.'s and occupy positions at some of the better universities. The case they make against Darwinism does not rest on the authority of Scripture; rather, it proceeds from premises that are scientific and philosophical, invoking esoteric ideas in molecular biology, information theory and the logic of hypothesis testing.

When the neo-creos go public -- as they did recently in a hearing before the Ohio Board of Education, which they were petitioning for equal time in the classroom with Darwinism -- they do not stake any obviously foolish claims. They concede that the earth is billions of years old, and that some evolution may have taken place once the basic biochemical structures were brought into being. What they deny is that the standard Darwinian theory, or any other ''naturalistic'' theory that confines itself to mindless, mechanical causes operating gradually over time, suffices to explain the whole of life. The biological world, they contend, is rife with evidence of intelligent design -- evidence that points with near certainty to the intervention of an Intelligent Designer.

''Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics'' is a great fat collection of essays, some three dozen in all, that examine this thesis from every imaginable angle. Its editor, the philosopher Robert T. Pennock, has himself written a book opposing the neo-creos (''Tower of Babel,'' 1999), and he admits that his selection here is stacked against them by about two to one. Yet most of the major proponents of intelligent design are represented: Phillip E. Johnson, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the father of the movement; the biochemist Michael J. Behe; the mathematician William A. Dembski; and the philosopher of logic Alvin Plantinga. They are given the chance not only to present their reasoning but also to defend it against their more prominent Darwinian critics, including the biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins and the philosophers of science Philip Kitcher and Michael Ruse. The debate ranges freely over genetics, theology, the history of science and the theory of knowledge. The rhetoric is spirited, if sometimes barely civil, and the to-and-fro of ideas can be impressive.

Before we get to the scientific arguments of the neo-creos, a word should be said about their motivation. Just what do they have against Darwinism? Unlike the old-fashioned creationists, they are not especially worried about evolution conflicting with a literal reading of Genesis. Then why can't they join with the mainstream religions, which have made their peace with Darwinism? In 1996, for example, Pope John Paul II said that the theory of evolution had been ''proved true'' and asserted its consistency with Roman Catholic doctrine. Stephen Jay Gould, though agnostic himself, salutes the wisdom of this papal pronouncement, arguing that science and religion are ''nonoverlapping magisteria.'' But the neo-creos aren't buying this. They think that belief in Darwinism and belief in God are fundamentally incompatible. Here, ironically, they are in agreement with their more radical Darwinian opponents. Both extremes concur that evolution is, in the words of Phillip Johnson, ''a purposeless and undirected process that produced mankind accidentally'' and, as such, must be at odds with the idea of a purposeful Creator.

The neo-creos are right to think that evolution is not religiously neutral. If nothing else, it undercuts what has traditionally been the most powerful argument for God's existence, the ''argument from design.'' No longer is the God hypothesis required to explain the intricate complexity of the living world. Christian intellectuals who accept Darwinism insist that evolution still leaves ample scope for a Creator-God, one who got the universe rolling in just the right way so that, by sheer chemistry and physics, beings like us would inevitably appear without further supernatural meddling. Ernan McMullin, a philosopher of science at Notre Dame who also happens to be a Catholic priest, argues that the resources of God's original creation ''were sufficient for the generation of the successive orders of complexity that make up our world.'' (Another contributor wonders whether the creationist idea of divine action hasn't been ''unduly affected by the 'special effects' industry.'') But this deistic notion of God holds little appeal for the neo-creos. They remain vexed that, as Richard Dawkins pointedly observes, ''Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.''

To regain the advantage for religion, the neo-creos have devised a two-part strategy. First, they try to establish their intelligent-design theory as the only alternative to Darwinism for explaining life. (The content of intelligent design is deliberately left vague: it can mean either creation by the designing agent or purposefully ''guided'' evolution.) Then they proceed negatively, deploying various arguments to show that Darwinian mechanisms could not possibly do the trick. The logic of this strategy is impeccable: Either Darwinism or intelligent design. Not Darwinism. Therefore, intelligent design. Armed with that conclusion, they hope to pry scientifically minded people away from a purely secular worldview.

AT the moment, there is no serious scientific rival to Darwinism. Indeed, if the explanation for the origin and complexity of life must be sought in physical mechanisms, then an evolutionary theory of some sort would seem to be inevitable. But why, the neo-creos ask, should other sorts of explanations -- those positing intelligent causes, supernatural interventions -- be ruled out by fiat? To do so betrays a commitment to ''metaphysical naturalism,'' the doctrine that nature is a system of material causes and effects sealed off from outside influences; and that, they say, is a matter of faith, not proof. But the Darwinians have a devastating retort to the charge of metaphysical naturalism: nothing succeeds like success. As Michael Ruse points out, modern science's refusal to cry miracle when faced with explanatory difficulties has yielded ''fantastic dividends.'' Letting divine causes fill in wherever naturalistic ones are hard to find is not only bad theology -- it leaves you worshiping a ''God of the gaps'' -- but it is also a science-stopper.

Besides, the evidence for Darwinism looks awfully strong. Yes, there are internal disagreements over the mechanisms and tempo of evolution. But the core thesis that all living things have a common ancestry, long supported by the pattern of structural similarities among them and by the fossil record, has received stunning new confirmation from molecular genetics. Johnson does his lawyerly best to cast doubt on the evidence for common ancestry. However, the more tough-minded of the neo-creos are willing to accept the historical claim that organisms evolved from one another. They even acknowledge a role for the standard Darwinian mechanism (natural selection operating on random variation) in the process. To make good on the second part of their strategy, the Not Darwinism part, they instead try to show that for deeper reasons Darwinism is bound to fall short of telling the whole story. They have three main arguments, all of which seem clever at first blush.

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TOPICS: Philosophy
KEYWORDS: creationism; crevolist; evolution
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To: xzins
For reference, plase show this model with detailed math.
241 posted on 04/16/2002 1:22:34 AM PDT by Quila
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To: jennyp
Might makes right. The State is the ultimate enforcer of rules.

I like this one. It's always been that way, and it was usually quite nasty when the State was the Church.

242 posted on 04/16/2002 1:27:56 AM PDT by Quila
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To: xzins
I believe that you cannot go from the order in the cell to the Russian Orthodox practice of triple baptism.

But isn't this exactly what ID people support; that things always go downhill? :)

243 posted on 04/16/2002 1:30:24 AM PDT by Quila
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To: Jeff Gordon
Yes What do you think about Occum's Razor?

Ockham's/Occam's Razor is "entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity."

So in the spaceman/no spaceman case, we have two options:

  1. Life developed on another planet, then was transferred to this planet
  2. Life developed on this planet
Or, put it another way for IDers:
  1. God came into existance and then developed life on this planet
  2. Life developed on this planet
In either case, we're 2 to 1 on ID vs. evolution with the entities. Evolution wins the Ockham test.
244 posted on 04/16/2002 1:39:07 AM PDT by Quila
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To: BMCDA
I found this website that goes into great detail concerning this issue

I'm reading it now, seems pretty standard stuff you've already seen in English at talk.origins. Quite well put together though.

245 posted on 04/16/2002 1:52:33 AM PDT by Quila
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To: jennyp
Dank für das komplette und lesbare website. Offensichtlich sollte jeder auf FreeRepublic es lesen.

Unfortunately, the web pages are too long for the Babelfish to translate the whole thing into English.

246 posted on 04/16/2002 1:58:51 AM PDT by Quila
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To: PatrickHenry
Cloaked & lurking ...

247 posted on 04/16/2002 3:28:04 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
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To: Quila
You've followed my comments and seem a fair observer. The question is this: Do you think there's higher intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

As far as the model, I'll get back with you. Are you willing to buy the book? I'll send you the source address if you are.

248 posted on 04/16/2002 4:32:04 AM PDT by xzins
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To: xzins
You've followed my comments and seem a fair observer. The question is this: Do you think there's higher intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

I see it as completely possible, although not necessary. Ockham again.

I just finished this morning my budgeted monthly big book purchase at Amazon, so the book will have to wait, but I've got this bookmarked.

249 posted on 04/16/2002 4:41:01 AM PDT by Quila
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To: Quila
Why think that the simplest (Occum's Razor) has to do with a highly complex development on this planet. The simplest explanation can easily be a "seeding and guiding" by ETI. That wouldn't be hard to argue at all.
250 posted on 04/16/2002 4:46:42 AM PDT by xzins
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To: jennyp
Ja aber babelfishdeutscher ist viel besser :-)

Babelfisch English ist Scheisse, aber!

251 posted on 04/16/2002 5:52:48 AM PDT by VadeRetro
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To: xzins
Why think that the simplest (Occum's Razor) has to do with a highly complex development on this planet. The simplest explanation can easily be a "seeding and guiding" by ETI. That wouldn't be hard to argue at all.

Because then you just transfer the origin question one step further back, adding one more entity to your argument. I'm not saying it's not possible, just that it's not necessary. If there were scientific evidence for it, I'd be more interested in the possibility, but all there is so far are fairly lame attacks on an existing theory rather than evidence for ID. Unless your math says something new.

252 posted on 04/16/2002 7:31:57 AM PDT by Quila
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To: Quila
Yepp, it's quite good for the laymen to get familiar with this topic and to gain some deeper insight into the matter.

What I found curious however, was that a guy from Europe compiled these pages since there doesn't seem to be a significant Creationist movement on the old continent.
Or have you encounterd any Creationists in Heidelberg? ;-)

253 posted on 04/16/2002 7:48:26 AM PDT by BMCDA
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To: Quila
'The drugs/religion connect is well known though. That's how a lot of people "saw God"...[I] suppose there's a rather mundane explaination...for most religious phenomena.'

The theories expounded on by Hunt are the subconscience's suseptibility to spiritual hijacking (so to speak) during drug induced trances OR hypnosis OR even meditative trances in the quest to "see God."

BTW, your "supernatural" example of the Oracle of Delphi's ethylene gas booby trap is reminiscent of that scene from the 'Mummy', isn't it?

254 posted on 04/16/2002 8:02:54 AM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: Quila
"[M]uch of Catholicism is taken from local pagan practices...Hunt lays it out pretty well?"

While it is true many Catholic rites and "Christian" holidays are derived from pagan origins, Hunt reveals :

-- The subtle incursions and stealth subterfuge of the "occult" (aka Satan and his forces) not only through the Catholic Church, but through other "Christian" churches as well.

-- How Satan's (if you happen to believe he exists) lies are being taught behind the academic respectability of Science

-- How demonic activities are presented as the path to "enlightenment though "alien" contacts and paranormal experiences

--How pagan religions are being promoted through ecology (see Al Gore) and "we are one" philosophies

--How evil is being reinvented as good by psychology AND the legal system...

Good book even if you aren't a Christian ;-)

255 posted on 04/16/2002 8:39:26 AM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: PatrickHenry
Lurking ...
256 posted on 04/16/2002 8:55:44 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
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To: Virginia-American
The "argument-from-no-design" is my way of describing the sociology of Darwinism not as science but as a dogma of materialistic atheism. I have before observed that the Darwin-fish-with-legs is a very odd phenomenon if Darwinism functioned merely as a scientific hypothesis.

Once one has a nice orderly system of differential equations governing the dynamics, the presence of a stochastic element in the genesis of biological diversity no longer makes a compelling counter to argument from design. Particle physics as presently understood has a stochastic element in the collapse of the wave function, but has such a beautiful, elegant feeling that no atheist brings it up as an anti-design polemic--it looks too much like the product of a brilliant mind.

My only real quarrel with Darwinism as science is the fact that its practitioners tend to formulate it in a non-falsifiable way (and I am a Popperian). My quarrel with certain Darwinists is that they are appealing to our ignorance of the non-stochastic part of what should be turned into a proper scientific theory (in the Popperian sense) when they draw philosophical inferences (the non-existence of God, the purposelessness of human existence, etc.) from the sketch of a scientific theory Darwin provided.

257 posted on 04/16/2002 9:17:34 AM PDT by The_Reader_David
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To: The_Reader_David
I have before observed that the Darwin-fish-with-legs is a very odd phenomenon if Darwinism functioned merely as a scientific hypothesis.

It's a scientific theory that's under political attack from people with another kind of fish on their cars. Think of the Darwin fish as a Sore-Loserman type parody.

258 posted on 04/16/2002 9:29:58 AM PDT by Virginia-American
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To: The_Reader_David
...a compelling counter to argument from design...

There is no argument that could in theory counter design; **Any (living) thing** could have been designed. What observation could show otherwise?

Are you saying that evolution is true, but since it may one day be described by more-or-less elegant equations, the equations themselves are evidence of some sort of 'design'?

259 posted on 04/16/2002 9:39:42 AM PDT by Virginia-American
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To: Quila
If there were scientific evidence for it, I'd

How about countless UFO sightings and suggestions throughout history? Seems like ETI still keeps an eye on us.

260 posted on 04/16/2002 4:41:07 PM PDT by xzins
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