Intelligent design psychology and evolutionary psychology: A comparison of rival paradigms

The purpose of this article is to flesh out some details of the ideas at the core of the Intelligent Design movement as they apply to the field of psychology and to compare intelligent design psychology (IDP), specifically, a Christian version of IDP (IDPC), with its chief rival, evolutionary psychology (EP), specifically, a naturalistic version of EP (EPN)- After providing some preliminary remarks about scientific research programs and scientific theory assessment, I shall will sketch out some of the details of IDPC and contrast it with EPN. Along the way, I will draw out various explanatory or predictive issues relevant to comparing the two, and provide an occasional critique of EPN.