Intelligent Design and Evolution
Debate has been engaged for many years concerning theories of Intelligent Design as opposed to theories of Evolution. The question as to which ideas should be taught within public schools is the primary motivation that keeps the debate alive. This document intends to clarify the issues being publicly discussed to properly frame the public debate.
Understanding the Concepts
Intelligent Design theories tend to be full descriptions of Reality, encompassing the entirety of history in their explanation of Reality. In fact, they go further by describing that which existed prior to the formation of our Reality.
Evolution theories concern themself with issues of how life on our planet diversified itself into all the species that have ever existed. These theories does not directly deal with the formation of our planet or the Universe to which it belongs. Evolution is, however, commonly associated with the Big Bang Theory which does attempt to describe the beginnings of our our Universe and hence the Reality to which we belong. In addition, Evolution theories can at times attempt to make speculations as to the origin of life onEarth.
Formulating the Comparison
To directly debate two opposing categories of theories and decide how they should be taught to students it is important to first grasp how these concepts relate to each other. Evolution's primary focus is on how natural selection and change in the frequency of anallele within a gene pool bring change within species as well as transformations into new species. These concepts of natural selection and allele change rely on data that exists within our physical Reality in the historical record of the Earth.
Intelligent Design theories include interpretations from various world religions as well as non-religious sources describing the formation of the Universe. However, Intelligent Design theories may focus not on the formation of the Universe, but specifically with the origin of life on Earth. Intelligent Design does not hope to promote one of these theories over another, but instead focuses on the primary concept that an intelligent designer is required to begin the process of life on Earth. In addition, Intelligent Design theories can extend the impact of the designer past the initial beginnings through further interventions after formation of the Universe and origin of life. In some of these Intelligent Design theories, aspects of the Evolutionary theories are directly or indirectly accepted, while in others Evolutionary ideas are rejected completely.
Categorization & Limits of Analysis
Evolution theories which concern themselves only with ideas that potentially can be proven or disproven via the Scientific Method can be described within the classification of Science and indeed is routinely placed within Life Sciences. Most if not all Intelligent Design theories include within their description a period that exists prior to the formation of our physical Reality and therefore contain elements within these theories which cannot be proven. Since humans exist within the physical boundaries of our Reality, we cannot extended ourselves outside this Reality. The absolute stopping point of our physical Reality must remain the singularity of initial formation of the Universe. Anything prior to that moment is beyond our understanding and cannot be reached through science. Science is bound by the laws of Physics and prior to the formation of the Universe these laws were not in place. Aristotle organized topics not covered under Physics in a collection that has come to be known Metaphysics, which is often understood to refer to those topics that are beyond the physical. A second fundamental boundary exists for human experience due to our reliance on a spacetimeperception of our Reality. While it is possible that Reality has a dimensional depth beyond spacetime, it is not a Reality we are consciously capable of directly experiencing. If an intelligent designer shares our boundaries of spacetime Reality they will differ from human's primarily in development and understanding of the laws of physics. They would not be responsible for the formation of the Universe as they would exist completely within its confines. If an intelligent designer exists within a Reality beyond our ability to experience, will it be possible for human's to provide the evidence of something beyond their own physical boundaries? We have developed technology that can see far back in history by viewing extremely distant areas of the Universe, but these observations remain firmly within the boundaries of our physics and spacetime limitations. While it is very likely that a designer whose Reality extends beyond our human experiencial limits can freely interact with our more limited spacetime experience, it is unlikely that we can ever anticipate, measure, or analyze any impact into human experiential Reality imparted by this designer.
Conclusion
The scope of Evolution theories should be continued focus on the core principles of natural selection and frequency of an allele within a gene pool. The aspect of Intelligent Design theories that communicates directly to these principles are continuing post-formation intervention of a designer upon the Universe. Intelligent Design theories that discuss how a designer formulated the Universe is more accurately debated by other formation theories such as the Big Bang Theory. Discussions on the beginnings of life are properly categorized under Origin of Life theories. Those theories that cannot be proven or disproven due to the restraints of human spacetime experience are better described as Philosophy than Science.
