Is Intelligent Design a Theory or a Critique?

Is Intelligent Design a Theory or a Critique?

Can anyone please direct me towards a theory of intelligent design the dose not involve the disregarding of evolution. I'm am very interested in the subject but for the life of me I cant find any theory’s on intelligent design that stand up on there own without bringing into the discussion on how other theory’s are wrong.

What I am looking for is a theory that stands up on its own without the need to discredit other theory’s so I can make my own mind up.

(I am not a believer of intelligent design but am very disappointed in all the information I have found on it how can they even consider being taken seriously if they don’t have a theory that stand up on its own)

or am I mistaken and intelligent design is not a theory (as many would have you believe) and it is just a critique of other theory’s of how live came into being and how we have the diversity we see today.


I don’t want a discussion on intelligent design V evolution (that’s hear)

It's a critique.

"intelligent design" is what they started calling "creationism" to make it sound more scientific and therefore to give it some sort of standing to be taught in schools under science, rather than under religion. Why? To discredit evolutionism.

The way I see it is that creationism is the theory, but intelligent design is the critique.

One of my uni classes this year is 'History of Ideas', which is basically a history of philosophy/science.

You may want to read about a guy called 'Linnaeus' - a 'natural philosopher' (scientist) during the Enlightenment period, his main aim in life was to uncover the system by which God had created the world. To this end, he set about classifying life left and right and putting them into an order known as the 'Chain of Being' (he didn't make this, though I think he made a few improvements).

He was quite religious and beleived that God had created a single a single animal for each genus (small group of similar species) and that the individual species were due to adaptation to the local environment - a process God did.

I'm no expert on the subject, but I hope it helps!

Intelligent Design is neither a theory nor a critique.

It's bulldroppings.

By even paying attention to it you do it too much credit.

Mint, done a search?

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/484021

Hi Mint Sauce,

It’s a very good question.

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Can anyone please direct me towards a theory of intelligent design the dose not involve the disregarding of evolution?

I think the theory you seek, is contained in a book called the Bible. On the first day .. Genesis, Chapter One.

I think the theory you seek, is contained in a book called the Bible. On the first day .. Genesis, Chapter One.

actualy even that isn't uncontested theres a non-chrisian group in america who are also avid inteligent design suporters. however they think that the "inteligence" was aliens who came down to earth created hummans (and the egypten pyramids) then buggered off

and i know where your comeing from mint sauce i spent ages looking for something similar a while back but unforutnaly it doesn't seem to exist.

i think the reason it doesn't exists is as follows inteligent design is basicly a rebranded verision of creationism. it was rebranded to try and make it non-religiou enough to push into public schools. however to do that they have had to remove all religous refrences and material from the theory.

unfortunatly for them thats pritty much all of it leaveing them with only vauge refrences to some intelgience and alot of hand waveing

Ummm no, intelligent design is that there was a divine maker who set things in motion. Period. The Original Mover.

Intelligent Design is NOT mutually exclusive of evolution.

Intelligent Design is NOT creationism.

How is it not creationism? How is it different?

I thought the premise of ID was that it doesn't have to be a god, merely an intelligent designer, or designers. In fact, ID proponents avoid religious terms, on the grounds that ID ISN'T a religious idea.

So how come you're using the word "divine" Faith? That's a religious term.

So why was intelligent design coined by the churchies if it's not about a god?

It's churchiness in disguise!

*plays transformers noise*

It's more about discrediting Darwin. I note that it's generally only evolution that gets attacked by the religious right. I reckon it's because evolution is the only scientific theory that DIRECTLY contradicts the bible. The churches can't have millions of kids running around thinking that a sound scientific theory that directly contradicts their religious beliefs is the correct one, so they invent a plausible "alternative", dress it up in scientific language, teach it in Science classrooms, and suddenly creationism doesn't seems so ridiculous to the kids anymore. And George Bush supports this. *shudder*

Faith: If Intelligent design is not exclusive of Evolution, why then do nearly all the major proponents of it (especially the ones with doctorates) insist on attacking evolution and coming up with ideas like "irreducible complexity" to discredit it?

thats pretty much how i see it too. it's a scam. like the nigerian lottery

Creationism is that God created it all in 7 days.

I used divine because I am catholic. Use the spagetti monster if you want to

Because there are always quacks out there and those are the ones that are most vocal

Um, can't access the last link Sambo! Would like to read it, sounds interesting.

Irreducible complexity I believe, could be wrong, is that there is a first mover, the watchmaker. The programmer for an AI software.

See? The idea in itself is quite interesting, when taken as a philosophical (if not strictly religious) concept. But it isn't science, and it irks me that it pretends to be. If anything, it's a philosophy.

Though when people start to have faith in a philosophy, it starts to look a lot like a religion...

Faith, not quite, that's the idea of ID as a whole. Irreducible complexity is an argument used by ID Scientists to discredit evolution. Here's an explanation:



And here's why it shouldn't be taught in schools.