Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-215) and index.

I. Design basics -- Design preliminaries -- Science and finite design -- II. Supernatural design -- Supernatural design: preliminary basics -- Identifying supernatural design: primary marks -- Identifying supernatural design: secondary marks -- Design in nature -- III. Boundaries of scientific legitimacy -- Beyond the empirical -- The legitimacy criterion -- IV. The permissibility question -- Cases for impermissibility -- Legitimacy -- Are there any payoffs? -- Conclusion.

"Although the scientific illegitimacy of supernatural design is typically asserted with enormous confidence and vigor, there has been surprisingly little actual work on such key foundational issues as even what design is and on specific criteria for assessing its legitimacy, or lack, as a scientific concept. However, intelligent supernatural design is again surfacing in discussions both of anthropic principles and of certain types of biological complexity. This book develops a definition of design, explicates the more specific concept of supernatural design, defends a general criterion for scientific legitimacy, and argues that in some cases the concept of intelligent supernatural design can meet the relevant requirements for scientific legitimacy."--Jacket

English.