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[Phys-L] Re: compromise on ID ... or not



Chris,
I guess it is time to put my foot in my mouth. I teach a general
astronomy section which lends itself well to a discussion of what a science
is and more importantly isn't. One straw dog I have used is a theory that
has an answer for everything. It is called "What will be will be". The
explanation to any observation or experiment can be explained by that
answer, but it is very unsatisfactory since it has zero predictive power.
Saying the deity did it comes close to this.
Another issue that has been talked around in this discussion,
evolves out of a criticism of Cardinal Bellarmine of the method of
Galileo. The Cardinal points out that Galileo's method can only find
falsity, but not truth. Since he can show various theories are wrong but
can't prove that a theory is correct. We can, as noted by many of you,
always make up other theories that explain what we see, but can only
eliminate them by performing experiments or taking observations that are
not consistent with their predictions. Bellarmine's criticism
is fundamental to our modern view of science, and is one of its intrinsic
limitations.
As one who teaches at a Catholic institution that professes that
we teach only the truth, it leaves me in something of a quandary.
Gary