Sunday, January 01, 2006

Why ID is not science

I thought I would briefly summarise the essential argument for Intelligent Design not being science which was handed down, in the judgment of Judge Jones, of Tammy Kitzmiller et al vs Dover Area School District et al. According to Judge Jones, Intelligent Design (ID) 'is not science' for three reasons:
  1. 'ID violates the centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking and permitting supernatural causation;
  2. 'the argument of irreducible complexity, central to ID, employs the same flawed and illogical contrived dualism that doomed creation science in the 1980's and
  3. 'ID's negative attacks on evolution have been refuted by the scientific community.

In addition to the above:

  1. 'ID has failed to gain acceptance in the scientific community;
  2. 'it has not generated peer-reviewed publications;
  3. 'nor has it been the subject of testing and research.

It is important to note that the judge did not rule on whether the arguments of ID are true or not. The only question the court considered is whether or not ID was science.

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