Different in degree or kind: more Denton: (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, February 16, 2016, 20:02 (2992 days ago) @ David Turell

In chapter 3 of his book Denton's describes the accepted fact that once multicellularity appears there are primordial 'types' of structures that simply appear with no precursors, equivalent to what I call patterns, the one type of limbs an example. Darwin does not explain this. He only explains the modifications that occur afterward. Denton offers a cladogram which I cannot reproduce here, but it offers: jaws appear with fish; limbs appear with amphibians; amniotic eggs appear with reptiles; hair appears with marsupials; placenta appears primates. In each case there are no precursors. It is all saltation! He believes in natural processes with the result " that the entire pattern of evolution was prefigured into the order of things from the beginning."