[Diamond]

One major premise of ID is that design can be detected by scientific principles. You're arguing against ID by saying the designer's purpose is ineffable.

The incompleteness of a theory does not necessarily equal forfeiture or even the unwarrantedness of its scientific status. For analagous example, even though I might lack exhaustive knowledge of the ultimate purpose of the designer and sculptor of Mount Rushmore, that subjective inscrutablity does not preclude the immediate defeasible inference that the work was the product of intelligence, as opposed to wind erosion.

Cordially,

[f.Christian]

dmd ...

Mount Rushmore, that subjective inscrutablity does not preclude the immediate defeasible inference that the work was the product of intelligence, as opposed to wind erosion.

Cordially,


1050 posted on 02/27/2003 11:27 AM PST by Diamond

[general_re]

For analagous example, even though I might lack exhaustive knowledge of the ultimate purpose of the designer and sculptor of Mount Rushmore, that subjective inscrutablity does not preclude the immediate defeasible inference that the work was the product of intelligence, as opposed to wind erosion.

Ah. But can you do that for any arbitrary case?

There was another poster not too many months ago, who posited much the same thing as you do here, but he turned out to be unwilling to play the "design inference game" - would you like to play? It's very simple - I'll post pictures of various objects and artifacts, one at a time, and for each one, you infer whether or not it was designed (or, "the product of intelligence", if you like), and then defend that inference as best you can.

Ready to play? ;)

[Physicist]

For analagous example, even though I might lack exhaustive knowledge of the ultimate purpose of the designer and sculptor of Mount Rushmore, that subjective inscrutablity does not preclude the immediate defeasible inference that the work was the product of intelligence, as opposed to wind erosion.

There's no way someone would mistake something designed for something fortuitous.