Re: [asa] Darwin only biological evolution? (can anything exist without evolution?)

I don't think it's explicit much in current YEC, but historically
there was some tendency to think Platonically about creation-God
created the ideal forms, and the things we see on earth are
approximations thereof. Evolving into something different might then
be perceived as suggesting there was something wrong with the original
ideal form, which might suggest that the creator messed up.

Of course, that reasoning overlooks the fact that flexibility and
adaptability are often wise design features.

Bringing out the fact that non-cyclic change over time is commonplace
might help address the antipathy for the term "evolution". However,
this does nothing to show that natural selection and other aspects of
biological evolution are correct.

Spencer's ideas on social mores were largely in place before the
Origin of Species, so there is actually a lot that was as independent
as might be expected of two people from similar cultural backgrounds,
though of course Spencer quickly took up aspects of Darwin and, not as
quick and extensively, vice versa.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.