Intelligent Design In The School System Essay - 2,017 words

Intelligent Design in the school system A lot of processes in modern life have become more complicated during the century. Economic, political, cultural and technological processes have influenced greatly humans perception of environment and our interaction with it. For last decades public schools have been faced a dilemma regarding the teaching of biological origins. The problem was within the scope of scientists, educators, and the courts. In 1987, Edwards v. Aguillard case was the beginning of debates between the proponents and opponents of Darwinian Theory. The main question was about the way students should be taught about how living organisms arose on earth? In 1859, the Origin of Species was published.


The work examined the origin of new species and explained the vast diversity of the biological world. It proved that contemporary species appeared as products of evolution. Since that time there have been a lot of controversy points of view among scientists, educators, politicians and etc. Those different points of view were based on different perception of life centered on the philosophical, cosmological, social, religious and science implications of evolution. Darwin and his followers recognized that development of life was the result of undirected natural processes. But for many people those arguments remained unconvinced.


They developed other alternative approaches. One of those approaches was known as scientific creationism (or creation science). It came into existence in the 1970s and early 1980s. The approach was based on biblical origin of creation in Genesis. First attempt to teach scientific creationism was made in the State of Louisiana. But the United States Supreme Court declared that the approach was based on a religious view and violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution which provides separation between church and state. Taking into account main propositions of the theory, it was proved that scientific creationism is a religious approach.


It states a sudden creation of the universe, energy, and life from nothing; states that there were different ancestors for humans and apes etc. Controversy to scientific creationism was Darwinian Theory. It proves that biological organisms were not designed but evolved. Evolution (in biology) was determined as the process by which novel traits have been constantly changing from generation to generation. Richard Dawkins, the Darwinian theorist, pointed that, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." In the 1930s and 1940s, neo-Darwinian synthesis or neo-Darwinism appeared. The theory gave a new look at Darwinism theory.


It proved that genetic variations in populations are the result of mutation and recombination. Evolution between one generation and another is a result of genetic drift, gene flow and natural selection. When populations are isolated by geographic barriers the process occurs gradually. The discovery of DNA caused those statements. It proved that the evolution of species happens not only because of natural selection (according to Charles Darwin's theory) but also due to the evolutionary synthesis. In 1998, there was a special issue on "Macromolecular Machines" in a biology journal.


It was stated that all cells are able to process information, build proteins, and move materials back and forth across their membranes. The process was called a molecular machine. It was interesting that the machine worked as those ones designed by human engineers. Richard Dawkins said, "The machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like." The discovery in molecular biology provoke a question if complex bimolecular such as proteins and DNA are self-organized on the influence of strictly chemical forces or may be they are information-rich molecules themselves. If the last statement is right it means that complex bimolecular carry intelligently encoded information. The result can lead to the conclusion that high information content of DNA indicates intelligent design.


During last decades a lot of evolutionary biologists have pointed that the Darwinian explanation has many gaps. The other approach has appeared that stated that organisms appear to be designed. They say that there are many evidences in biological systems to the theory. Contrary to neo-Darwinian theory design theorists are sure that nature shows a great number of evidences of real and apparent design by an intelligent creature. The approach is known as intelligent design or the theory of intelligent design. The theory has been developed in high school textbook Of Pandas and People.


The theorists are sure that intelligent explanation of living systems is better than undirected natural one. The development of the information technologies gave a great opportunity to determine criteria by which intelligently designed systems can be identified. One of the leading theorists William Dembski provides arguments in his works to the activity of rational or intelligent agents. He said that those agents determine the activity of other designing minds. As archaeologists think, rational agents made the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. Cryptographers, in their turn, said that there is a difference between random signals and those on the Stone.


The last carry encoded messages. Thats why they cannot be regarded as "cheating patterns". Most of all, Dembski says that the system that has "high complexity" and "specification" can be created by intelligent agents rather than from chance or physical-chemical laws. Though there is no doubt that common explanation to hieroglyphic inscriptions cannot be ignored. May be they were appeared as the result of natural forces such as wind or erosion. In 1970, Dr.


Martha Rogers introduced a new evolutionary model. It was published in An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. The theory proved the facts of intelligently designed systems. It was based on the constant interaction between processes and took into account several criterias. Dr. Rogers says that human and environmental systems are open and interact.


Thats why humans are integral parts of the environment. They do not adapt to it. People change as well as the environment and thats why people differ form those who existed before as well as the environment will never be the same. The degree of the interaction determines energy between individual and environment. Energy is indivisible; it means that human energy mutually dependent from environme ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: intelligent design, public school, school board, school system, darwinian theory

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