Michael J. Behe's Biochemical Design Argument

Michael J. Behe's Biochemical Design Argument



Michael J. Behe's Biochemical Design Argument

Introduction

Michael Behe has contended that biochemists have uncovered a kind of biochemical complexity that could only result from smart design.1 We have admonished his reasoning in two essays.2 Behe has lately responded to our first essay in ways that are simultaneously interesting sufficient and misleading sufficient to warrant farther analysis.(Bugge,1999)

Discussion

The bacterial flagellum is a demonstration of what Michael Behe describes as an irreducibly convoluted system. In his publication, Darwin's Black Box, he explains that such irreducibly convoluted systems could not have arisen by a stepwise step-by-step Darwinian process.

The structure of a flagellum is rather distinct from that of a cilium. The flagellum is a long, hair like filament embedded in the cell membrane. The external filament consists of a single kind of protein, called "flagellin." The flagellin filament is the paddle surface that contacts the fluid throughout swimming. At the end of the flagellin filament beside the surface of the cell, there is a swell in the thickness of the flagellum. It is here that the filament attaches to the rotor drive. The addition material is comprised of something called "hook protein." The filament of a bacterial flagellum, different a cilium contains no engine protein; if it is broken off, the filament just floats stiffly in the water. (Behe,1996) Therefore the engine that rotates the filament-propeller must be established somewhere else. Experiments have demonstrated that it is established at the base of the flagellum, where electron microscopy shows several ring structures occur. (Bugge,1999)

Arguments

Most scientists will contend that "intelligent design" is not a solely naturalistic or materialistic interpretation of the source of biological data and therefore is not a legitimate scientific explanation. Often concealed inside this contention is the philosophical or theological assumption that God (or ...