I have updated my comparison of Intelligent Design Theory with Anti-Design
theory on my web page at: http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones/idcmprsn.html
Here is a text file representation of same (best viewed with a monospaced
font).
Comments and criticisms welcome.
Happy Christmas!
Steve
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A Comparison of Intelligent Design Theory with Anti-Design Theory
Copyright (c) 1999, Stephen E. Jones
This table is under construction. Comments and
criticisms to sejones@iinet.net.au welcome!
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No. Predictions Design Anti- Comments
Theory Design
Theory
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1. Living things appear Yes No Even opponents of Design
to be designed like Dawkins[1] and Crick[2]
admit that living things appear
to be designed.
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2. The universe appears Yes No Modern science has revealed the
to be designed to universe appears to be highly
support life. fine-tuned to support life.[3]
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3. The universe and man's Yes No Even non-supporters of Design
mind appear to be have called this "the
co-designed so that man unreasonable effectiveness of
can understand the mathematics." [5]
underlying mathematical
laws of the universe.[4]
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4. No theory which denies Yes No Today, 140 years after Darwin
design will ever be published his _Origin of
fully satisfactory. Species_, no fully naturalistic
evolutionary theory is fully
satisfactory. Naturalistic
evolutionists today are divided
into several conflicting groups,
including the strict Neo-
Darwinians (e.g. Dawkins,
Maynard Smith, Williams), the
Punctuationists (e.g. Gould,
Eldredge), Complexity Theorists
(e.g. Kauffman), and the
Structuralists (e.g. Goodwin).
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References:
[1] "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of
having been designed for a purpose." (Dawkins R., "The Blind Watchmaker",
[1986], Penguin: London, 1991, reprint, p1).
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[2] "Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed,
but rather evolved." (Crick F.H.C., "What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of
Scientific Discovery", [1988], Penguin Books: London, 1990, reprint, p138).
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[3] Davies P.C.W., "The Accidental Universe", [1982], Cambridge University Press:
Cambridge UK, 1983; Barrow J.D. & Tipler F.J. "The Anthropic Cosmological
Principle", [1986], Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996, Reissue; Greenstein G.,
"The Symbiotic Universe: Life and Mind in the Cosmos", William Morrow & Co: New
York NY, 1988; Gribbin J. & Rees M., "Cosmic Coincidences: Dark Matter, Mankind,
and Anthropic Cosmology", Bantam Books: New York, 1989; Ross H.N., "The
Fingerprint of God: Recent Scientific Discoveries Reveal the Unmistakable
Identity of the Creator," [1989], Promise Publishing Co., Orange CA, 1989, Second
Edition, 1991.
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[4] Davies P.C.W., "The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning,"
[1992] Penguin: London, 1993, p150; Davies P.C.W., "The Unreasonable Effectiveness
of Science", in Templeton J.M, ed., "Evidence of Purpose: Scientists Discover the
Creator", Continuum: New York NY, 1994.
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[5] "It is hard to avoid the impression that a miracle is at work here...The
miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation
of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor
deserve." (Wigner E.P, "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the
Natural Sciences", Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 13,
1960, pp1-14, in Denton M.J., "Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal
Purpose in the Universe", Free Press: New York NY, 1998, pp259-260).
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"The personal and intellectual drama of Darwin and Dana provides the
main subject for this essay, but I also write to illustrate a broader theme in
the lives of scholars and the nature of science: the integrative power of
worldviews (the positive side), and their hold as conceptual locks upon
major innovation (the negative side)." (Gould S.J., "Leonardo's Mountain
of Clams and the Diet of Worms: Essays on Natural History", [1998],
Vintage: London, 1999, reprint, p103)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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