Reply to My Critics: A Response to Reviews of Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

Abstract:

In Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution I argued that purposeful intelligent design, rather than Darwinian natural selection, better explains some aspects of the complexity that modern science has discovered at the molecular foundation of life. In the five years since its publication the book has been widely discussed and has received considerable criticism. Here I respond to what I deem to be the most fundamental objections. In the first part of the article I address empirical criticisms based on experimental studies alleging either that biochemical systems I discussed are not irreducibly complex or that similar systems have been demonstrated to be able to evolve by Darwinian processes. In the remainder of the article I address methodological concerns, including whether a claim of intelligent design is falsifiable and whether intelligent design is a permissible scientific conclusion.

Keywords: Darwinism; evolution; falsifiability; intelligent design; irreducible complexity; natural selection

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, U.S.A. E-mail: michael.behe@lehigh.edu