Intelligent design

Lore & Background

Intelligent design presents two main arguments against evolutionary explanations: irreducible complexity and specified complexity, asserting that certain biological and informational features of living things are too complex to be the result of natural selection. These assertions were rebutted by detailed scientific examination, and evolutionary explanations they claimed to be impossible had been published in peer reviewed research. The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States. ID is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science.

Reader's Guide

The significance of intelligent design lies in its attempt to challenge the methodological naturalism inherent in modern science and to present a version of the theological argument from design as a scientific alternative to evolution. Aguillard Supreme Court decision ruled that creation science is not science and cannot be taught in public school biology classes. Dover Area School District trial, which ruled that intelligent design was not science, that it 'cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents', and that its promotion in public schools violated the Establishment Clause. Critics of ID find a false dichotomy in the premise that evidence against evolution constitutes evidence for design.

Did You Know?

• Intelligent design is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses.
• The leading proponents of intelligent design are associated with the Discovery Institute, a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States.