Let's assume for a moment that "Intelligent Design" is accepted as a legitimate scientific theory.
Suppose one of the claims of the ID people is correct - for example, different species are a product of intelligent design, but subspecies can be explained by normal Darwinism alone. My question to the supporters of ID is:
Where do we go from there?
We admit that there is a supernatural cause involved in the creation of species. So, we need to alter the methodology of science at its most basic level. Up to now, science has never allowed supernatural causes as explanations of phenomena, but now we're going to allow those types of explanations. So, what's the next step in the investigation?
"How were species created?"
"ID did it."
"How?"
...
A supernatural cause need not follow any rules, so normal methods of scientific investigation won't help us answer the "how" question here. I ask fans of ID: what do we do now? Are we forced to drop the problem on the assumption that we can't know anything more, or is there some other path we can follow? How should the scientific methodology be altered if ID is true?
It seems to me that there would be no alternative but to occasionally acknowledge the God of ID (a non-theological God, of course, because ID is a non-religious theory, right?) every now and then when looking at species ... but maybe I'm wrong.
Suppose one of the claims of the ID people is correct - for example, different species are a product of intelligent design, but subspecies can be explained by normal Darwinism alone. My question to the supporters of ID is:
Where do we go from there?
We admit that there is a supernatural cause involved in the creation of species. So, we need to alter the methodology of science at its most basic level. Up to now, science has never allowed supernatural causes as explanations of phenomena, but now we're going to allow those types of explanations. So, what's the next step in the investigation?
"How were species created?"
"ID did it."
"How?"
...
A supernatural cause need not follow any rules, so normal methods of scientific investigation won't help us answer the "how" question here. I ask fans of ID: what do we do now? Are we forced to drop the problem on the assumption that we can't know anything more, or is there some other path we can follow? How should the scientific methodology be altered if ID is true?
It seems to me that there would be no alternative but to occasionally acknowledge the God of ID (a non-theological God, of course, because ID is a non-religious theory, right?) every now and then when looking at species ... but maybe I'm wrong.