Adam Cenian: Science and search for truth
The advent of Intelligent Design (ID) movement led to new tensions in the apparently wellestablished philosophy of science. Can a supernatural agent be included into scientific
explanation? The newest juridical decision of the court in Dover, on December 20, 2005,
which refuses ID any scientific base, seems to negate such possibility. The bitterness of this
battle is evident from the words of Scott Todd, an immunologist at Kansas State University:
“Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from
science because it is not naturalistic …“ 1. The prominent biologist Richard Lewontin is fully
aware of these unfairness, when he writes: “We take the side of science in spite of the patent
absurdity of some constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises
of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated
just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. …
Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” 2
It is more and more clear that we are facing the war of worldviews and not a new sciencereligion conflict.
But what if some supernatural agent exists and “He/It” took active part in creation of
the Universe or a living cell? The modern science, limited by its paradigm and logic, will
produce many unreasonable explanations or will refuse to give any answer. What with its
generally accepted fame of an activity directed to a search for the truth? Is that narrow
naturalistic definition of science necessary and the only possible?
The paper is trying to stimulate a discussion of these problems. The history of science
and search for the truth will be presented, including some new reconciliation attempts, as
proposed by Dembski, Behe, etc.
1
2
S.C.Todd, correspondence to Nature 410 (6752): 423 (Sept. 1999)
R.Levontin, Billions and Billions of Demons, New York Review (Jan. 9, 1997) p. 31.
Polish Academy of sciences, Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery, Gdańsk,
Hevelius Forum for Dialog between Science and Religion in Gdańsk; cenian@imp.gda.pl