My New Year's resolution is to start a series of threads with a
common theme which will examine the Difficulties of Darwinism.
Below is the first of these papers which I hope to present on a
regular basis.
Comments and criticisms would be much appreciated!
Happy new year!
Steve
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THE DIFFICULTIES OF DARWINISM
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION IS ESSENTIALLY THE THEORY TAUGHT
TODAY
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by "descent with modification
through variation and natural selection" (Darwin, 1872, p437), is
essentially the theory of evolution that is taught today:
"This book is written in the conviction that our own existence once
presented the greatest of all mysteries, but that it is a mystery no
longer because it is solved. Darwin and Wallace solved it, though we
shall continue to add footnotes to their solution for a while yet."
(Dawkins, 1986, p.xiii).
1.2. BUT IS IT TRUE?
Some aspects of Darwin's theory of evolution may be reconcilable with
some forms of Christian theism, but the real question is whether the
theory is true in the first place:
"When I discuss the subject of my book [Darwin on Trial] with people
who are followers of a theistic religion...there's one problem I
always run into...I'll tend to sort of say, "I have this question
about whether the Darwinian version of evolution (the theory of
evolution that is currently accepted), is true. And then they'll
tend to say in response, "Well, we found a way to reconcile it with
belief in God", or "we found a way to reconcile it with the Bible",
or something like that". And what I always then have to say is,
"Wait a minute! That's not the first point", you see. "Before
worrying about whether one thing can be reconciled with another,
let's first look at the question of whether it's true. Whether we
need to worry about it at all."" (Johnson, 1992)
1.2. NEED FOR BALANCING ARGUMENTS FOR WITH THOSE AGAINST
In his Origin of Species, Darwin admitted that a fair result could
only be obtained by fully balancing the facts and arguments on both
sides of each question, but he found this impossible to do:
"For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in
this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently
leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have
arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and
balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and
this is here impossible." (Darwin, 1872, p18)
The purpose of this series of papers is to look again at the facts
and arguments on the other side of the more important questions. In
short, to reconsider the difficulties of Darwinism.
1.3. DIFFICULTIES OF DARWINISM?
1.3.1. DARWIN ADMITTED MAJOR DIFFICULTIES WITH HIS THEORY
Darwin admitted major difficulties with his theory which "staggered"
him, although of course he believed they were not fatal:
"Long before the reader has arrived at this part of my work, a crowd
of difficulties will have occurred to him. Some of them are so
serious that to this day I can hardly reflect on them without being
in some degree staggered; but, to the best of my judgment, the
greater number are only apparent, and those that are real are not, I
think, fatal to the theory." (Darwin, 1872, p156)
These difficulties included the following, listed in Chapter VI,
"Difficulties Of The Theory" of Darwin's Origin of Species, which
(amongst others) have persisted to this day:
a. LACK OF TRANSITIONAL FORMS
Darwin's first and greatest difficulty of his theory was the lack of
transitional forms, both present and past:
"First, why, if species have descended from other species by fine
gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?
Why is not all nature in confusion, instead of the species being, as
we see them, well defined?" (Darwin., 1872, p156)
b. COMPLEX ORGANS
Darwin's second greatest difficulty of his theory was the adequacy of
natural selection to account for complex organs like the eye:
"Secondly, is it possible that an animal having, for instance, the
structure and habits of a bat, could have been formed by the
modification of some other animal with widely different habits and
structure? Can we believe that natural selection could produce, on
the one hand, an organ of trifling importance, such as the tail of a
giraffe, which serves as a fly-flapper, and, on the other hand, an
organ so wonderful as the eye?" (Darwin., 1872, p156)
c. INSTINCTS
The third major difficulty Darwin acknowledged was also to do with
the adequacy of natural selection to account for the instincts of
animals:
"Thirdly, can instincts be acquired and modified through natural
selection? What shall we say to the instinct which leads the bee to
make cells, and which has practically anticipated the discoveries of
profound mathematicians?" (Darwin., 1872, p156)
d. STERILITY OF HYBRIDS
The fourth major difficulty that Darwin listed was the sterility of
hybrids:
"Fourthly, how can we account for species, when crossed, being
sterile and producing sterile offspring, whereas, when varieties are
crossed, their fertility is unimpaired?" (Darwin., 1872, p156)
We will consider these, and other difficulties of Darwinism, in a
series of papers to follow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Darwin C., 1872, "The Origin of Species", 6th Edition,
Everyman's Library, J.M. Dent & Sons: London, 1967 reprint.
Dawkins R., 1986, "The Blind Watchmaker", Penguin: London, 1991
reprint.
Johnson P.E., 1992, "Phillip Johnson and Eugenie Scott", 2 tape set,
Wisconsin Public Radio, Access Research Network.
Copyright (c) Stephen E. Jones, 1998. All rights reserved. This
paper is for debate on the Evolution Mail Reflector internet listserv
only. It therefore may not be quoted outside that listserv without
the written permission of the author, Stephen E. Jones.
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| Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net |
| 3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Steve.Jones@health.wa.gov.au |
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