Wednesday, October 19, 2005
False Dichotomy
Retired lawyer Tim Beazley takes apart a key claim made by intelligent design "theorists" and creation "scientists" on the ACLU of Pennsylvania's Speaking Freely blog:
"False dichotomy arguments are very simple. First, the creationist claims that evolution and ID are the only two possible choices. That's the dichotomy. Then, he points out alleged problems in evolution. Finally, hetriumphantly concludes that, since evolution has problems, ID must necessarily be correct, since it is the only other option available. Voila. The debate's over, and ID won."
"False dichotomy arguments are very simple. First, the creationist claims that evolution and ID are the only two possible choices. That's the dichotomy. Then, he points out alleged problems in evolution. Finally, hetriumphantly concludes that, since evolution has problems, ID must necessarily be correct, since it is the only other option available. Voila. The debate's over, and ID won."
