Evolution (Introduction)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 20:17 (5595 days ago) @ dhw

dhw has invited me to "start another thread on the subject of "Objections to the Design Theory", in order to separate it from disputes about the details of evolution." - Personally I am happy to leave disputation on details of biological evolution to the biologists, since it is a very technical subject, and much of it seems to me to be rather arcane, like "punctuated equilibrium" and "group selection" and "emergence", although I know that those who want to bring theology into the subject like to play up these disagreements. - I don't think there is such a thing as "The Design Theory" in any scientific sense, so I won't be starting a thread with that title. - dhw claims: "... the Theory of Evolution does not deal with the origin of life." - In my opinion "the theory of evolution" in its modern sense must include the origin of life as well as its development. It seems to me that dhw is trying to make a rather artificial distinction here, or perhaps trying to put back the clock to Darwin's time. The theory has moved on since Darwin. It is no longer Darwinism. It is Crick and Watson-ism now, and much more. It is molecular biology. - dhw continues: "There is therefore nothing "mutually contradictory" between believing that a conscious power designed the mechanism which gave rise to evolution, and believing the theory of evolution itself." - The phrase "the mechanism which gave rise to evolution" is ambiguous. It could mean "the way in which molecules first came together to produce self-replication in a molecular syatem" or it could refer to "the processes of variation and natural selection". The modern theory of the evolution of life (i.e. its origin and development) does not require any input by a conscious designer. In fact since a conscious designer would be a life-form, such a hypothesis entirely undermines the theory by assuming that life already existed before life evolved. - dhw says: "the theory is neutral" - Maybe it was when Darwin stated it. That is no longer the case.

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GPJ