"Is Intelligent Design science?"

Is “Intelligent Design Theory” science? This question is asked repeatedly in the public discourse regarding ID. Curiously, it is answered in both the negative and the affirmative among the people who are the staunchest opponents of teaching ID. It seems clear that it can mean very different things – or at least that people can mean different things in uttering it. Some of the debate over the proper answer is surely a result of this equivocation: even people who have no use for ID are talking past one another when it comes to explaining why. So here’s an attempt to clear it up a bit.

I think that the answer to any one of the more carefully specified questions is pretty straightforward, so I’m hoping this may end or reduce the heavy weather that seems to accompany the discussion of ID.

Here's my take on some prime candidates for what “Is ID science?” might be taken to mean, and the answers to those various questions.