“intelligent design,” by contrast, is a classic example of a non-falsifiable hypothesis, and therefore is not science. Nothing that we can observe, test or measure can ever prove or disprove whether there is an intelligent being behind the scenes directing the results.
Well, there could be a principal of intelligence inherent in being. I have frequently noted that, while I happen to believe in God, the God I believe in does not putter about in some celestial laboratory. There are more sophisticated notions of deity than that. It is also worth noting that A Civic Biology: Presented in Problems, the book John Scopes used in his class (as required by the state of Tennessee) was as much about eugenics and the superiority of the Caucasian race as it was about evolution.
In fairness to Gelernter, he's challenging Darwinism on its own terms and is making scientific, not philosophical, objections. I don't think he is saying there is no evidence for design because there is actually quite a lot, even within the realm of scientific observation. I suspect he wouldn't dismiss philosophical objections, he is just saying the proposition can't be proved or disproved scientifically in answer to the modern materialist claims that it can, no?
ReplyDeleteSorry, the quote wasn't from Gelernter. But I think my comment may still hold.
ReplyDelete