The Science of Intelligent Design

The Scientific Community In this article, the term "scientific community" means the body of working scientists in the world who have published in peer-reviewed journals, utilize widely accepted scientific principles and are actively applying the scientific method in laboratory settings. Organizations comprising the "scientific community" include the National Academy of Sciences, the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the Sloan-Kettering Institute. Beliefs attributed to the scientific community in this article are beliefs held by the large majority of scientists today.

While the intelligent design movement has, at present, made more of a mark on politics than on science, it nonetheless defines itself as a scientific movement and sets forth various arguments to support that claim. The science of intelligent design is very controversial -- the scientific community does not recognize its methods as scientific -- and its arguments do not always form a cohesive vision of the scientific evidence for design. Instead, this evidence consists of the work of several scientists all setting forth their own theories in support of an intelligent, supernatural designer at work in nature. The common thread in the science of ID lies mostly in the structure of the work, all of which adheres to a double goal: To disprove Darwinism and to prove design in nature.

Some intelligent design arguments apply to both goals, and most of them are interconnected; but in the interest of structure, we will group them here according to which aim they most directly address. In the following sections, we'll examine the more prominent intelligent design claims, including:

• To disprove Darwinism
  • Irreducible complexity
  • Specified complexity
  • Law of Conservation of Information

• To prove design
  • Three-stage "Explanatory Filter"

The Major Players in ID Science Michael J. Behe, Ph.D. Ph.D. in biochemistry Professor of biological sciences, Lehigh University Senior fellow, Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture William A. Dembski, Ph.D. Ph.D. in mathematics, philosophy Master of Divinity in theology Associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science, Baylor University Senior fellow, Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture Jonathan Wells, Ph.D. Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology, religious studies Senior fellow, Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture