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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Why "Intelligent Design" Is More Interesting Than Old-Fashioned Creationism
Why "Intelligent Design" Is More Interesting Than Old-Fashioned Creationism
Georgia Journal of Science
"Intelligent Design" (ID) creationism largely relies on long-discredited forms of argument to try and make a case against naturalistic evolution. However, it also includes some novel elements, such as William Dembski's claim to rigorously identify a reliable signature of intelligent design and thereby establish ID as an independent form of explanation not reducible to "chance and necessity." Such arguments also fail; indeed, intelligence itself appears to be a product of combinations of chance and necessity, where Darwinian processes are critically important in producing genuine novelty. Addressing the scientific mistakes of ID creationism requires attention to current science about intelligence, complexity, …
Countering Public Misconceptions About The Nature Of Evolutionary Science
Countering Public Misconceptions About The Nature Of Evolutionary Science
Georgia Journal of Science
Challenges to modern evolutionary science are often rooted in fundamental misconceptions about the nature of science itself. Among the public, there is a widespread perception that the focus of science on natural cause-and-effect explanations is a thinly disguised effort to promote a godless worldview, rather than an inherent methodological limitation. Furthermore, the general public often view theories as merely unsubstantiated guesses, rather than as the unifying concepts that give our observations coherence and meaning. Theories within the historical sciences, in particular, are seen as being inherently untestable without an objective basis for assigning validity. Science for many is simply an …