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Prof. Schmidt, I agree with what you say (although I think you meant to use a different word from "Popperianism," since the latter is the odd view that no theory is ever verified but only at best stands unfalsified). But wouldn't you say a theory's fruitful usefulness is precisely a mark of its truth? I mean, as a scientist you're seeking truths, right? In fact usefulness here just is productivity of truths, right? And if a theory enables us to uncover truths, it's more likely to be true. Hence, what makes ID a poor theory is not its uselessness in itself but the fact that it's false -- the very fact that makes it useless.

: -- Jim Ryan, philosophy prof., Huron College (posted 2/11, 2:30 p.m., U.S. Eastern time)

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