At its core, intelligent design is the science of detecting design. It’s a broadly accepted method used by scientists of all stripes in a variety of scientific disciplines. But when design hypotheses are applied to biology, cosmology, or physics, some claim it’s no longer a scientific pursuit. On a new episode of ID the Future, I talk to philosopher and author Peter S. Williams about his recent book An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory.

Growing up in 1980s England with science teachers for parents, Williams was comfortable with both the orthodox evolutionary account of life’s origins and a belief in a creator of the universe. But as he read popular science writers of the day — from Hawking and Davies to Polkinghorne and Dawkins — he learned that one’s framing of science is closely linked with one’s worldview. And as he studied the philosophical commitments of atheism, agnosticism, and theistic belief, Williams discovered intelligent design and grew to appreciate the open philosophy of science espoused by ID theorists. 

In this interview, Williams explains the deceptively simple test he uses to silence claims that intelligent design is not a scientific pursuit. He also highlights the words of top materialist thinkers and describes the inconsistencies and question-begging in their arguments. Williams demonstrates that there’s more common ground between Darwinists and intelligent design proponents than it seems. In An Informed Cosmos, Williams has mounted a robust defense of the core arguments for intelligent design theory. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Dig Deeper

• Get a copy of Williams’s book: An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory
• Watch Williams’s “Guide to Intelligent Design” video.