Re: Behe by Palevitz

From: MikeBGene@aol.com
Date: Mon Jan 31 2000 - 17:02:42 EST

  • Next message: Stephen E. Jones: "re: Michael Behe...by Palevitz"

     Ami wrote:
     
    >It has been a question of faith on both sides. And both sides have their
    >dogma which cannot be
    >contradicted by any new discovery or insight.
     
    Susan replied:

    >actually ID has faith on its side and evolutionary biology has evidence on
    >its side. Evolution could easily be disproven--it hasn't yet been in over
    >100 years, but it *could* be or could have been.

    Actually, I think it is far more complicated than this. First of all, ID is
    not
    the opposite of evolutionary biology. Both can co-exist easily. In his
    latest
    book (Nature's Destiny), Denton shows one way this can happen and I know
    of no serious objections that have been raised against these arguments.
    Another
    way is to posit ID in place of abiogenesis, and then envision evolution as
    the process that flows from this design event.

    Secondly, I don't think it's really an issue of faith vs. evidence. Remember
    that evidence exists only in the context of belief. Remove belief and
    evidence
    is only raw data. Thus, the raw data are interpreted *as* evidence in the
    light
    of belief meaning all evidence entails some element of faith. Now, in
    science,
    the basic ground rule is that all data are to be interpreted in light of
    naturalism.
    This results in the practical exlcusion of any interpretation in the light of
    intelligent design. Thus, the evidence uncovered by science is not evidence
    for a non-intelligent cause over an intelligent cause, it is only evidence to
    support ways a non-intelligent cause could have produced something. In
    science, a non-intelligent cause for a biotic phenomenon is never tested
    against an intelligent cause for such phenomena. None of this means there
    is anything wrong with science. We just have to remember that science is
    not the tool to determine if something evolved or was designed by an
    intelligent
    agent, as science *begins* with the former proposition.

    Mike



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