Intelligent Design and Its Critics

Let me paint the picture more starkly. Consider an elementary event E.  Suppose initially we see no pattern that gives us reason to expect an intelligent agent produced it. But then, rummaging through our background knowledge, we suddenly see a pattern that signifies design in E. Under a likelihood analysis, the probability of E given the design hypothesis suddenly jumps

1. Overview of the Design Inference Darwinbegan his Origin of Species with the commonsense recognition that artificial selection in animal and plant breeding experiments is capable of directing organismal variation. A design-theoretic research program likewise  begins with a commonsense recognition, in this case that humans draw design  inferences routinely in ordinary life, explaining some things in terms of  blind, undirected

Metanexus:Views 2001.09.17 2989 words Today’s columnist, Michael Lotti, asks us to think about intelligent designby first picturing the following uncomplicated image: “I am walking on the beach when I see a watch lying on the sand. Uponseeing the watch, I can, say the ID theorists, infer that it isintelligently designed. This is, of course, true. The interestingquestion, however, is why

Metanexus: VIEWS 2001.08.31 3088 words Raymond E. Grizzle, a Research Scientist at the Jackson Estuarine Laboratoryat the University of New Hampshire tells us that when he “began to explore the relationship between science (particularly biology,which is my major area of study) and theology, I quickly encountered thewritings of “young-earth creationists” who insisted there were only twooptions for interpreting the biotic

A Response to Scott Gilbert’s essay “Finding a Mate for Evolution” Scott Gilbert’s ” young, lonesome stud ‘Evolution’ –‘Evo’ to his friends–who is in search of a mate of suitable temperament” offers a definitechallenge for a matchmaker. Evo must understand his limitations and berealistic about who will be suitable for him. If he desires a True mate hemust be willing