The Scientific Method

One of the foundations of science is that every theory needs to be tested. This testing should be done by experiments. The results of the experiments should be predicted in advance. This minimizes the chance that the experimenter’s own bias will taint the results. Figure 1.1 outlines the scientific method. Notice that the naturalistic axiom influences the type of theories that are allowed, the type of predictions that are allowed, how observation are to be interpreted and how the results are interpreted. So the naturalistic axiom forces are theories, predictions and observations to exclude the possibility of a designer.

Thus, science has no alternatives, it must accept evolution. The naturalistic axiom effectively excludes all other choices, and makes the outcome known in advance. The question science has been trying to answer since Darwin is not, "Is evolution possible?" The naturalistic axiom forces science to assume that evolution is true; and as a result, the question is simply, "How did it happen?" Also notice in figure 1.1, that the observable axiom is much less invasive. Its scope is limited to the ability of scientists to observe nature and accurately interpret results.

figure 1 - the scientific method

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