Re: Plantinga: Whether ID [Intelligent Design]

Terry M. Gray wrote:

> Pim,
>
> So let me be the "devil's" advocate for a minute. Just suppose for the
> sake of argument that God did something like the IDer's claim--say,
> directly cause a flagellum to form in such a way that it is
> unexplainable using normal scientific explanations. Call it a miracle
> or whatever you like. But now it's part of our normal world and is
> propagated in normal ways, but came into being via some extraordinary
> divine act.
>
> Again, for the sake of argument, let's not simply dismiss it by saying
> that God doesn't work this way.
>
> What would or could we say about this scientifically?
>
> TG
>
I believe that in this case science will say that we do not know how it
happened. I see the problem with Plantinga's and in fact Nelson's
argument that they are asking 'what if God designed the world, how would
science detect this?'. I do not think that science stands a chance
detecting this unless science gets to limit God.
At most science can conclude that it does not have sufficient data or is
unable to explain the existing data.

>
> On Mar 17, 2006, at 10:37 AM, Pim van Meurs wrote:
>
>> I am glad I am not the only one who sees the problems in Plantinga's
>> 'arguments'. The reason why the supernatural has no scientific value
>> is because it explains anything and thus nothing. And it is clearly
>> not falsifiable. What if I state that God created our universe two
>> seconds ago with all the history and memory to make it seem it has
>> existed for billions of years?
>> What if I claim that God created life and the flagellum? What does it
>> explain? How can it be disproven?
>>
>> Pim
>
>
> ________________
> Terry M. Gray, Ph.D.
> Computer Support Scientist
> Chemistry Department
> Colorado State University
> Fort Collins, CO 80523
> (o) 970-491-7003 (f) 970-491-1801
>
>
Received on Sat Mar 18 16:12:48 2006