Steve Peterson wrote:


As an exercise for the class, consider the case for ID research and report
back where it falls short.

Steve

With the proviso that I am still trying to understand the breadth of
ID's claims...

You said:

Further explanation of a scientific theory
In common usage a theory is often viewed as little more than a guess or a
hypothesis. But in science and generally in academic usage, a theory is much
more than that. A theory is an established paradigm that explains all or
much of the data we have and offers valid predictions that can be tested. In
science, a theory is never considered fact or infallible, because we can
never assume we know all there is to know. Instead, theories remain standing
until they are disproven, at which point they are thrown out altogether or
modified to fit the additional data.

OK. If I understand the IDers here is where they claim to want to interact
with current scientific theory:

1) Philosophically: a) Current science proceeds from the materialist-
mechanical view of nature. i.e., That no First and/or Sustaining Intelligent
Cause is necessary to the understanding of Nature as we observe it.
b) IDers *claim* that this presumption is incorrect (and they can't prove it,
but then again, you can't prove the materialist supposition either) and this
leads to incorrect conclusions about what we observe.

2) Empirically: They *claim* to justify 1b) on the grounds of what science
has already observed. To whit, that we see things in nature that are
"irreducably complex" - i.e. That could not have evolved because their
predecessor forms could not have survived long enough to evolve.
Irreducable complexity is a hypothesis because it can be falsified
(at least when directed at a particular organism or biosystem) by demonstrating
a less complex form that lead to the thing claimed to be "irreducable".

BUT - and this may be my lack of understanding - what I am not yet clear
on is just *how* they propose to do experiments to verify this.

Still reading ...


--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Daneliuk
PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/