We check in on the pro-Darwin bloggers at Panda’s Thumb regularly and always look forward to another post from Jack Scanlan. You may remember he’s the one who is always threatening to read and review Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell when he finally gets some free time. Now Scanlan’s back again and warning that he may someday get around to reading our updated list of pro-ID peer-reviewed scientific publications:
Now, this post is not about to dissect all 50+ citations, that’s for someone else (or me, if I ever get some free time) to do at another time, but I would like to look at exactly how Casey describes the way these papers, even if they don’t mention it by name, “endorse” ID.
Scanlan has an issue with Casey Luskin’s describing the papers in question as “pro-ID” when many, instead of making a positive case for intelligent design, actually focus on Darwinism’s inadequacy in explaining crucial features of life.
But this objection makes no sense.
ID, like Darwinian theory, has a positive and a negative aspect. Saying that life’s development, from non-existent to simple to complex, is best explained as the product of either intelligent design or purposeless Darwinian churning assumes that you are making a comparison between competing hypotheses. Defending either theory, Darwin or Design, means you have to argue for your explanation and against others.
That’s what it means to saying one idea is “better” than another. How can Scanlan not understand that?