[lbo-talk] Re:theism vs atheism:the two party system

Chris Doss lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com
Sun Dec 12 08:24:44 PST 2004


--- Jon Johanning <zenner41 at mac.com> wrote: Of course, one could still claim that an intelligent designer designed the whole universe, including the mechanisms which generated life, and then sat back and watched it all play out -- basically the old idea of "deism" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism> (God as "the Divine Watchmaker"). But the question remains: how complex does the universe have to be to require an intelligent designer? What does "complexity" mean here? Is the universe actually complex in the relevant sense? And just how does the claimed process of "intelligent design" and "creation" of the universe work? Does it actually add to the knowledge of reality that science sans God gives us, or is it just theological word-mongering?

---

I think it was Hume who pointed out some time ago that, even if the universe shows that it has been "designed," it does not follow that the designer was "intelligent". Spiders "design" webs. Beavers "design" dams. DNA "designs" cells.

Ascribing "intelligence" to God is anthropomorphic anyway.

===== Nu, zayats, pogodi!

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