Re: [asa] TE/EC Response - ideology according to Terry

I add my own thanks for Cameron's patience and clarity in explaining his
views on ID, as someone who is committed to that position.

I agree with Randy's assessment of the conversation, but not without some
irony on my part. For years, I've made statements such as following (or
close equivalents):

(1) ID is an interesting philosophical critique of the explanatory efficacy
of Darwinian evolution, combined with an appeal for scientists to add
“design” to the set of explanatory principles they employ in biology
and other sciences.

I've esp emphasized the first part of that sentence, and I've often been
rather strongly criticized for it -- I don't understand ID, I'm not being
fair; who am I (a critic) to define or describe ID in such a manner?

I've also said things like this (2): when ID advocates say, “teach the
controversy,” they do not mean that ID should be taught as an alternative
to evolution, in the same sense in which the authors of the Arkansas bill
wanted creationism taught as another theory of equal merit to evolution.
Rather, they are referring mainly to the negative critique of evolution as
it is presented in textbooks; they want students to learn that some
scientists do not accept important aspects of the standard picture of
evolution.

The irony is that these statements, which pretty fairly summarize my
overall understanding of ID, are fully consistent with the picture of ID
that Cameron has given us -- as far as I can tell. The one potential
difference is my use of the word "philosophical" instead of "scientific" in
the first statement. That's a bone of contention for many, obviously, but
surely the rest of these statements are accurate and fair to the way in
which ID proponents understand what they are doing and thinking? Is this
so, Cameron?

I just think that sometimes it becomes so important to some people, to
control every word in the conversation, that they are unwilling to concede
competence to anyone who doesn't actually share their view of things. In
fact, I think I've studied ID as both a set of ideas and a cultural
phenomenon a lot more than many camp followers of ID who would not give me
the time of day.

Ted

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Received on Mon Jul 20 13:46:43 2009