Origins Glossary

General

A philosophy of science is a claim about what kinds of explanations are permissible within science. The dominant philosophy today is Methodological Naturalism, the claim that in science one may legitimately invoke only natural causes. Some proponents also embrace Metaphysical Naturalism (that nature is all that exists), while others affirm some reality beyond nature. But all agree that in science the only explanations permissible are those that appeal to chance and natural law.

By contrast, Design Theory is the claim that science may consider a third kind of explanation--intelligent agency --and that, in fact, in certain cases evidence for intelligent design can and has been empirically detected.

A variety of positions fall under each of these categories, and the following glossary is not exhaustive.

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Naturalistic Theories

Naturalistic Evolution: God does not exist, or if He does, He does nothing in the natural world investigated by science. The proper way to do science is to adopt methodological naturalism, attributing everything that exists to the interaction of chance and natural law.

Theistic Evolution(1): God exists, but evidence of His activity cannot be detected scientifically. The proper way to do science is to adopt methodological naturalism. Scientifically, this position is identical to naturalistic evolution.

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Design Theories

Theistic Evolution(2): God set the initial conditions of the universe and designed natural laws so that their ordinary operation has resulted in the intended outcome. One might call this "frontloaded" design.

Old-age or Progressive Creation: God not only designed the laws and set the initial conditions, He also guided the process and/or injected information at key stages in the development of the universe and of life to design new forms of organization that are beyond the powers of chance and law.

Young-age Creation: God not only designed the laws and set the initial conditions. He also created the major life forms within a short period of time (most say six literal days), about 10,000 rather than millions of years ago. Most of the strata in the geological column were laid down by the worldwide flood in Noah's day.

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