Intelligent design

This article is about a specific pseudoscientific form of creationism. For generic arguments from "intelligent design", see Teleological argument. For the movement, see Intelligent design movement. For other uses of the phrase, see Intelligent design (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Theistic evolution.

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Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".[1][2][3][4][5] Proponents claim that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."[6] ID is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science.[7][8][9] The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States.[n 1]

Although the phrase intelligent design had featured previously in theological discussions of the argument from design,[10] its first publication in its present use as an alternative term for creationism was in Of Pandas and People,[11][12] a 1989 creationist textbook intended for high school biology classes. The term was substituted into drafts of the book, directly replacing references to creation science and creationism, after the 1987 Supreme Court's Edwards v. Aguillard decision barred the teaching of creation science in public schools on constitutional grounds.[13] From the mid-1990s, the intelligent design movement (IDM), supported by the Discovery Institute,[14] advocated inclusion of intelligent design in public school biology curricula.[7] This led to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, which found that intelligent design was not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and that the public school district's promotion of it therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[15]

ID presents two main arguments against evolutionary explanations: irreducible complexity and specified complexity, asserting that certain biological and informational features of living things are too complex to be the result of natural selection. Detailed scientific examination has rebutted several examples for which evolutionary explanations are claimed to be impossible.

ID seeks to challenge the methodological naturalism inherent in modern science,[2][16] though proponents concede that they have yet to produce a scientific theory.[17] As a positive argument against evolution, ID proposes an analogy between natural systems and human artifacts, a version of the theological argument from design for the existence of God.[1][n 2] ID proponents then conclude by analogy that the complex features, as defined by ID, are evidence of design.[18][n 3] Critics of ID find a false dichotomy in the premise that evidence against evolution constitutes evidence for design.[19][20]

  1. ^ a b Numbers 2006, p. 373; "[ID] captured headlines for its bold attempt to rewrite the basic rules of science and its claim to have found indisputable evidence of a God-like being. Proponents, however, insisted it was 'not a religious-based idea, but instead an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins – one that challenges strictly materialistic views of evolution.' Although the intellectual roots of the design argument go back centuries, its contemporary incarnation dates from the 1980s"Numbers, Ronald L. (2006) [Originally published 1992 as The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism; New York: Alfred A. Knopf]. The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design (Expanded ed., 1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-02339-0. LCCN 2006043675. OCLC 69734583.
  2. ^ a b Meyer, Stephen C. (December 1, 2005). "Not by chance". National Post. Don Mills, Ontario: CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. Archived from the original on May 1, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  3. ^ Boudry, Maarten; Blancke, Stefaan; Braeckman, Johan (December 2010). "Irreducible Incoherence and Intelligent Design: A Look into the Conceptual Toolbox of a Pseudoscience" (PDF). The Quarterly Review of Biology. 85 (4): 473–482. doi:10.1086/656904. hdl:1854/LU-952482. ISSN 0033-5770. PMID 21243965. S2CID 27218269. Article available from Universiteit Gent
  4. ^ Pigliucci 2010
  5. ^ Young & Edis 2004 pp. 195–196, Section heading: But is it Pseudoscience?
  6. ^ "CSC – Frequently Asked Questions: Questions About Intelligent Design: What is the theory of intelligent design?". Center for Science and Culture. Seattle: Discovery Institute. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Forrest, Barbara (May 2007). "Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals" (PDF). Center for Inquiry. Washington, D.C.: Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 19, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference consensus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "An intelligently designed response". Nature Methods (Editorial). 4 (12): 983. December 2007. doi:10.1038/nmeth1207-983. ISSN 1548-7091.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haught Witness Report was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matzke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005). s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District#E. Application of the Endorsement Test to the ID Policy, pp. 31–33.
  13. ^ Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005). s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District#E. Application of the Endorsement Test to the ID Policy p. 32 ff, citing Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987).
  14. ^ "Media Backgrounder: Intelligent Design Article Sparks Controversy". Center for Science and Culture. Seattle: Discovery Institute. September 7, 2004. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  15. ^ Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005). s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District#4. Whether ID is Science Page 69 and s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District#H. Conclusion p. 136.
  16. ^ Meyer, Stephen C.; Nelson, Paul A. (May 1, 1996). "Getting Rid of the Unfair Rules". Origins & Design (Book review). Colorado Springs, Colo.: Access Research Network. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
  17. ^ Giberson, Karl W. (April 21, 2014). "My Debate With an 'Intelligent Design' Theorist". The Daily Beast. New York: The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference SM 07 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005). s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District#4. Whether ID is Science, p. 64.
  20. ^ McDonald, John H. "A reducibly complex mousetrap". Retrieved February 28, 2014.


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