Question:

Are the superfluous body parts and anatomical illogicalities of humans' and animals' a good argument against

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

the existence of an intelligent designer?

 Tags:

   Report

3 ANSWERS


  1. Partially.   By itself, these features do not disprove the *existence* of an intelligent designer, but they do demonstrate that said 'intelligent designer', if it exists, is either a flawed designer, or has some reason we cannot fathom for introducing those flaws deliberately.  

    The question is better posed as whether these features are *better* explained by evolution.   To show this we would ask if these features are found in other organisms where they are NOT superfluous or illogical, and this fits the existing tree of shared ancestry.

    For example, in the calf of humans is a "superfluous" muscle known as the Plantaris muscle.  (Google it.)   This is a long, thin muscle that serves no known purpose in humans ... as evidenced by the fact that it is often harvested as muscle tissue to use in heart surgery, and has no effect whatsoever with walking.   But this very same muscle is not "superfluous" in the other apes.   It is the same precise muscle used for *grasping with the feet*!

    So the presence of a superfluous structure like the Plantaris muscle *by itself* is not evidence against the existence of an intelligent designer ... because the ID advocate would just argue that said designer has some unknown reason for sticking this unnecessary and superfluous muscle in our bodies.   But when this very same feature is shown to be not superfluous at all in other species with which we see common ancestry ... it just adds to the evidence that common ancestry is a better explanation of our origins.


  2.    yes

  3. Of course, an ID supporter could simply argue that it was designed to be flawed. There is no intrinsic reason why a designer should always create perfect objects.

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 3 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.