Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe

by Anonymous, Stephen C. Meyer, William A. Dembski

As progress in science continues to reveal unimagined complexities, three scientists revisit the difficult and compelling question of the origin of our universe. As mathematician, biochemist, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898708095
• ISBN13: 9780898708097
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Thorough Examination of Supporting Points for ID

This book, _Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe_, is a collection of six essays by three of the biggest names in intelligent design (ID): William Dembski (Ph.D. in mathematics and Ph.D. in philosophy), Stephen Meyer (Ph.D. in philosophy of science), and Michael Behe (Ph.D. in biochemistry). These three characters have been widely criticized by Darwinists, but very few of these critics have actually read their material, and virtually none of them have considered it. The first essay, by William Dembski, is introductory, yet essential. This essay, "The Third Mode of Explanation," can be found in almost all of Dembski's work in some way, and for good reason: his explanatory filter, along with his stipulation of complex specified information (CSI), is needed to prevent ID from looking like William Paley's argument. I've seen a hefty amount of criticism with regard to Dembski's explanatory filter and CSI, but the critiques have been hollow. Typically, critics simply fail to understand CSI. Of course, there may be an honest few who really don't understand it, but it looks to me as if the Darwinists simply reject CSI because they know it will sting them in the long run. Essentially, Paley's failure at using some standard for detecting design brought about his eventual downfall. In my opinion, however, Dembski's work succeeds precisely where Paley fell. Even so, I would recommend whomever is introduced to Dembski's work with the explanatory filter and CSI in this book to research his other works, mainly, _The Design Inference_ and _No Free Lunch_. Next up is Stephen Meyer's "Evidence for Design in Physics and Biology." After finding how intelligence can be inferred, Dembski hands the book off to Meyer and Behe for a while in order to see if we can, in fact, find signs of intelligence. On a side note, this is a main point where ID differs from things like scientific creationism (SC) and natural theology (NT); from what I can tell, both SC and NT presume that a designer does exist. However, ID searches for *signs* of intelligence to see if there is a creator. While SC may seek to affirm the biblical creation account, ID doesn't care most about how we were created; ID only seeks to find out if certain things in nature are designed. Likewise, while NT desires to determine the attributes of a designer, ID leaves that up to theology, not science. No matter what ID critics tell you, these proponents are NOT six-day (young-earth) creationists. Back to Meyer. This lengthy (60-page) essay is very in-depth and is extremely informative. He focuses one part on the anthropic fine-tuning principle, which tries to show that since "the constants in physics, the initial conditions of the universe, and many other of its features appear delicately balanced to allow for the possibility of life" (56-57), then the universe must have been designed, since the probability of life is outrageously low. I've found this argument quite convincing,

The Core of Design

If you want to know what is at the core of intelligent design, this is the book. With essays by Behe, Meyer & Dembski, this offers a rare multi-author volume that still fits in a cargo-pocket. Want to know why ID critics never talk about this volume? It is too solid--they can't touch it. Plus Behe successfully responds to his critics. Instead, they have to resort to name calling and warnings of danger lest someone read this. But don't let them tell you what to think. Evaluate ID for youself.

Forget the critics

I have to give this book 5 stars to counter-balance the two reviews that slam this book. It is obvious that neither reviewer has read this book, in part or in total. Intelligent Design is not creation science. It accepts evolution (i.e., common descent), gradual change over time, and natural selection as a fine-tuning mechanicism of life. It merely suggests that the formation of life is guided by intelligence - the exact question of how that intelligence performed its work, or who that intelligence is, is left open. (It could be anything from aliens to Zeus.) Intelligent Design has caused Darwinian Fundamentalists to react with alarm because Darwinism is the central facet of their world view. Their objections are more philosophical than scientific (I've yet to read ONE negative review of an ID book that contains any science whatsoever). Darwinists have been the Grand Inquisitors of academia and are crushing real science. While Physics, Astronomy, Genetics, and other fields are literally taking quantum leaps into the future, evolutionary Biology has barely advanced past the early 1900s thanks to the the Fundamentalists' insistence that all evidence be construed, however obliquely, to support the notion that natural selection and random mutation can account for all life on earth. Read about ID and make up your mind. Don't listen to Fundamentalists like Ken Miller and Richard Dawkins who are long on rhetoric and short on science.

A Primer on Intelligent Design

This book is a compliation of three essays (first 113 pages) which study the possibility of intelligent design from a physics, mathematical and philosophical aspect. The remainder of the book (approximately an additional 80 pages) make up the appendix which supplies three additional essays which speak about Intelligent Design and seek to address specific criticisms against this theory. The first appendix, entitled Answering Scientific Criticisms of Intelligent Design, is written by Michael Behe, a biochemist, and is possibly the best chapter of the entire book. For a primer on what "intelligent design" is considered to be by its proponents, this book would suffice. I would highly recommend this book to those who are interested in this subject.