Karl Popper's recantation:
"The fact that the theory of natural selection
is difficult to
test has led some people, anti-Darwinists and even
some
great Darwinists, to claim that it is a tautology.
... I mention
this because I too belong among the culprits.
Influenced by what these authorities say, I
have in the
past described the theory as "almost tautological,"
and I have
tried to explain how the theory of natural selection
could be
untestable (as is a tautology) and yet of great
scientific
interest. My solution was that the doctrine of
natural
selection is a most successful metaphysical research
programme. ...
I have changed my mind about the testability
and logical
status of the theory of natural selection; and I am
glad to have
an opportunity to make a recantation. ... The
theory of natural
selection may be so formulated that it is far from
tautological.
In this case it is not only testable, but it turns
out to be not
strictly universally true. There seem to be
exceptions, as with
so many biological theories; and considering the
random
character of the variations on which natural
selection
operates, the occurrence of exceptions is not
surprising."
[Karl Popper, "Natural Selection and the Emergence
of
Mind," _Dialectica_ 32(1978):339-355; quotations are
from pp.
344-346.
regards
Emmanuelle
>
> Foundation, Fall and Flood
> Adam, Apes and Anthropology
> http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
>
> Lots of information on creation/evolution