Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Intelligent designists fight back




Absolutely. Of course the word evolution is used in both contexts. Evolution as a fact can be observed directly for short lived species, and in a sense that is what animal breeders do.

The theory of natural selection is of course not a fact. But unfortunately, the term evolution is used for both in common parlance, and often in scientific discourse. I of course was using it in the latter sense as the neo-Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection. The original model has of course been modified quite a bit.

John M. Clement
Houton, TX

It is critical that one separate the fact of evolution, for which there
is overwhelming evidence, from the means by which evolution has
occurred. The prevailing model for that mechanism is Darwin's Theory of
Evolution by Natural Selection.

Much confusion arises from combining these two concepts. See also
Stephen Jay Gould's comments below.