Is Intelligent Design an attempt to rescue the theological components of creationism following its defeat in Edwards v. Aguillard, or is it based squarely and entirely on empirical observation?
Although intelligent design has a long history, it assumed its present scientific form in the early 1980s. One of the key scientists in its reemergence as a full-fledged scientific theory was Charles Thaxton, who researched and advanced intelligent design as part of FTE’s development of Pandas. From the outset, FTE insisted that the book must be grounded in objective, empirical evidence. This commitment to following the evidence where it leads was fundamental and flowed naturally from Thaxton’s laboratory background in X-ray crystallography and his authorship of the scientifically acclaimed The Mystery of Life’s Origin. Both experiences, along with prior graduate and postdoctoral study, enabled him to grasp how molecular structures can exemplify linearly coded information, as in proteins and DNA.
Such knowledge was not available in the days of F.C.S. Schiller. Yet by the early 1980s, molecular biologists understood how biological systems encoded information, and information theorists had determined that the mathematical treatment of these biological message texts was identical to that of human written language. This suggested how to quantify the information in long-chain protein molecules and DNA so that we can identify the patterns characteristic of intelligence with a vastly greater precision and level of confidence than before.
A brilliant but extremely cautious scholar, Thaxton vetted his work through the criticisms of scores of highly qualified scientists, information theorists, and philosophers of science leading to the publication of The Mystery of Life’s Origin in 1984. As a consequence, the concept of intelligent design, variously expressed, appears often in the work of Thaxton and FTE predating the decision in Edwards v. Aguillard.
For example, world famous atheist-turned-theist Antony Flew was referring to a 1985 symposium in Dallas when he stated, “I think the argument to intelligent design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it” (emphasis ours). Thaxton was a leader in this symposium, and his book, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, was prominent in the discussion throughout.
Thus, the modern theory of intelligent design is best understood as a revival and extension of this longstanding acceptance of design in nature based on reason and empirical evidence. Plaintiffs’ characterization of intelligent design – as no more than “creation science” to conform the findings of science with a sacred religious text – is simply bad history.
- From FTE's Amicus Brief pages 15-17