Essay:Evolution is an unproved theory
Opponents of evolutionary biology sometimes claim that evolution is an 'unproved theory'. It is true that the hypothesis that each species of life in existence now evolved naturally from another species, like any other scientific hypothesis, cannot be definitively proved. However, that hypothesis and the hypothesis that all life on earth descends from one common ancestor is supported by molecular [1][2][3] fossil [4][5] geographical [6] and morphological [7] evidence.
Some creationists also argue that the evolution of all life on earth is not a falsifiable hypothesis and as such should be considered a pseudoscience if the philosophy of science built by Karl Popper is to be followed. There are however very many facts that have not been observed that would falsify the evolutionary hypothesis. Most famously the English biologist JBS Haldane said "fossil rabbits in the precambrian" [8] would be enough. Many other possible methods of falsification have been proposed[9] and in fact Popper himself asserted that evolution was a falsifiable hypothesis. [10]
Creationists also sometimes attack evolutionary biology with the argument that evolution is 'just a theory' or an 'unproved theory', a tactic that even creationist group Answers in Genesis suggests not be used as it displays a lack of understanding of what the word theory means in scientific discourse.[11][12]. In fact, well over 99% of trained biologists accept the evolution of life on earth as a fact and neo-darwinian evolutionary theory as the theory best able to exaplain that fact [13]
References
- ↑ Brown, J. R. and W. F. Doolittle. 1995. Root of the universal tree of life based on ancient aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase gene duplications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 92:2441-2445.
- ↑ Caetano-Anolles, G. 2002. Evolved RNA secondary structure and the rooting of the universal tree of life. Journal of Molecular Evolution 54: 333-345.
- ↑ Gribaldo, S. and P. Cammarano. 1998. The root of the universal tree of life inferred from anciently duplicated genes encoding components of the protein-targeting machinery. Journal of Molecular Evolution 47:508-516.
- ↑ Carroll, R. L. (1997) Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Sereno, P. C. (1999) "The Evolution of Dinosaurs." Science 284: 2137-2147
- ↑ MacFadden, B. J. (1992) Fossil Horses: Systematics, Paleobiology, and Evolution of the Family Equidae. New York, Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Darwin, Charles (1859), On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray 1st edition.
- ↑ Ridley, M (2003). Evolution, Third Edition. Blackwell Publishing Limited.
- ↑ Theobald, Douglas (2004) 29+ Evidences for Macroevolution: Scientific "Proof", scientific evidence, and the scientific method. The TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ↑ Popper, K (1978). "Natural selection and the emergence of mind". Dialectica (32).
- ↑ Answers in Genesis website Arguments we think creationists should NOT use Retrieved on 2007-05-12
- ↑ Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory," May 1981; from Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994, pp. 253-262
- ↑ Martz, Larry & Ann McDaniel (1987), "Keeping God out of the Classroom (Washington and bureau reports)", Newsweek(26): 23-24