Three Types of Science, pt. 2: Inferential Science

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid continues a three-part conversation with biophysicist and philosopher Kirk Durston. The topic is Durston’s article series unpacking three types of science: (1) experimental science, (2) inferential science, and (3) fantasy science. In this second of three episodes, Durston recaps the three types but focuses on inferential science. He explains how it involves, in the historical sciences, abductive reasoning, which is making an inference to the best explanation. He also explains how such reasoning, rooted in observation, can be used effectively as we consider the best explanation for the origin of biological information. This is Part 2 of a three-part conversation. Listen to Part 1. Look for Part Read More › Source

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to ID the Future, a podcast about intelligent design and evolution.
0:16.6	Greetings, I'm Andrew McDermott.
0:20.3	Today I'm welcoming back writer and speaker Kirk Dursden.
0:26.8	Dursden holds a PhD in biophysics, a master's in philosophy, and undergrad degrees in physics and mechanical engineering.
0:29.2	Author of several papers and peer-reviewed science and philosophy journals, he has for decades studied the possibility that meaningful
0:35.7	information in general and genetic information specifically is the fingerprint of intelligence. One of his current research projects
0:43.8	involves working with a team of scientists to develop software that can help us
0:48.0	better understand the structure of proteins and how they fold. Kirk, welcome back to the program.
0:54.0	Thank you, Andrew.
0:55.0	I'm glad to be here.
0:56.0	This is the second of a three-part series,
0:58.0	exploring a written series that you recently offered up
1:02.0	at your blog, Kirkderston.com that looks at the differences between the major
1:07.5	categories of science, experimental, inferential, and fantastical or science fiction. Today we'll zoom in on your
1:16.0	discussion of inferential science and will continue to probe your thoughts on the
1:20.5	detectability of intelligent design in nature.
1:24.0	First, just a bit of review for those who may not have listened to part one of our discussion,
1:29.0	yet, can you tell us how you divide signs into three major categories and maybe why?
1:34.0	Yeah I felt the need to divide science into three major categories because I saw a lot of people just totally
1:40.5	believing everything they heard that a scientist said.
1:44.1	And in real life I knew that some of those things were excellent and trustworthy, others things
1:49.5	were pretty sketchy and others were just outright fantasy. And so as I thought about it I
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