Re: [asa] Proof That Common Descent is NOT Begging the Question

Hi David,

"I would propose two possible ways for science to detect whether life
was designed:

1) Have a set of examples of known designed and known undesigned life.
 Look for differences between the sets. See which provides a closer
match to life on Earth."

Yet this approach requires a set of life forms known to be designed and thus
assumes a method of detecting whether life was designed in order to create
the set.

"2) Have a known set of principles as to how a designer would or would
not implement things. Compare life to these standards. This requires
a certain amount of knowledge about the designer."

Same problem. To study the implementation of design, science needs a way to
detect design - the thing being implemented. And a designer is a designer
only in the sense that he/she designs. How does science identify an agent
as a designer without first being able to detect his/her designs?

Of course, then there is the pragmatic angle. If science requires a set of
examples of known designed and known undesigned life, since we don't have
such a set, science cannot determine whether or not life was designed. And
if science requires a certain amount of knowledge about the designer, and we
don't have this knowledge, science cannot determine whether or not life was
designed.

- Mike Gene

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Campbell" <pleuronaia@gmail.com>
To: "ASA" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 6:12 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Proof That Common Descent is NOT Begging the Question

>> But there could be discontinuity at some points, not necessarily
>> "radical" discontinuity, producing the same branching tree pattern.<
>
> This is a possible position to hold, and in fact seems to more or less
> be the position of Behe, but popular ID and creation science adamantly
> affirm radical discontinuity. It may be very hard to find a clear way
> to distinguish between this and full continuity, since the data are
> incomplete and sometimes misleading (homoplasy, etc.).
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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Received on Tue Aug 12 21:06:36 2008