Darwinism
Note: This is only a very rough draft, with notes that may be useful in developing the article. Please do not edit this article until the actual article is complete — i.e., when this notice is removed. You may add comments on what you would like to see included. Rick Swarts 01:31, 23 Oct 2005 (UTC)
From Encyclopedia Britannica: theory of the evolutionary mechanism propounded by Charles Darwin as an explanation of organic change. It denotes Darwin's specific view of how the process of evolution works. Beginning in 1837, Darwin proceeded to work on the now well-understood concept that evolution is essentially brought about by the interplay of three principles: (1) variation—a liberalizing factor, …
Notes: ... The term "Darwinism", ... has numerous meanings depending on who has used the term and at what period. A better understanding of the meaning of this term is only one reason to call attention to the composite nature of Darwin's evolutionary thought. ... One particulary cogent reason why Darwinism cannot be a single monolithic theory is that organic evolution consists of two essentially independent processes, as we have seen: transformation in time, and diversification in ecological and geographical space. The two processes require a minimum of two entirely independent and very different theories. ... I consider it necessary to dissect Darwin's conceptual framework of evolution into a number of major theories that formed the basis of his evolutionary thinking. For the sake of convenience, I have partitioned Darwin's evolutionary paradigm into five theories, but of course others might prefer a different division. The selected theories are by no means all of Darwin's evolutionary theories; others were, for instance, sexual selection, pangenesis, effect of use and disuse, and character divergence. However when later authors referred to Darwin's theory thay invariably had a combination of some of the following five theories in mind:
Evolution as such. This is the theory that the world is not constant or recently created nor perpetually cycling, but rather is steadily changing, and that organisms are transformed in time. Common descent. This is the theory that every group of organisms descended from a common ancestor, and that all groups of organisms, including animals, plants, and microorganisms, ultimately go back to a single origin of life on earth. Multiplication of species. This theory explains the origin of the enormous organic diversity. It postulates that species multiply, either by splitting into daughter species or by "budding", that is, by the establishment of geographically isloated founder populations that evolve into new species. Gradualism. According to this theory, evolutionary change takes place through the gradual change of populations and not by the sudden (saltational) production of new individuals that represent a new type. Natural selection. According to this theory, evolutionary change comes about throught the abundant production of genetic variation in every generation. The relatively few individuals who survive, owing to a particularly well-adapted combination of inheritable characters, give rise to the next generation.
From a dictionary definition: A theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Also called Darwinian theory.
Comments from Ed Poor discussion: The definition of Darwinism was (until LDC changed it):
- all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.
This definition (a) does not say where the variations come from but (b) implies that natural selection causes the variations.
I thought that natural selection just determines which variations persist.
So a better definition would be:
- all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. How these variations come into being is anyone s guess.
Ed Poor
- No, that wouldn t be a better definition, that would be a lie. We _do_ know what many of the causes are. The fact that there might be others isn t really relevant, and if we find them we ll add them to the picture. If we don t find them, there s little reason to blindly speculate about them. LDC
- Okay, so is Darwinism the theory that speciation is caused only by natural processes such as radiation mutating the genes and NOT by God? This would make his theory just as scientific as a Big Banger saying the universe was created by some force other than God. Both ideas seem a bit philosophical to me, but maybe I m getting confused by not knowing the meanings of the various words. Anyway, I m trying not to trash the articles and keeping (most of) my quibbles in the Talk sections. How am I doing? :-) Ed Poor
Please tell me, someone, if the following idea is merely a quibble or is actually significant.
Evolution occurs through (a) an unknown cause making new species and (b) the weeding out process (natural selection).
My question is the identity of the unknown cause. Is it background radiation, such as cosmic rays, causing random mutation? Could it be God?
Another definition: Darwinism
n : a theory of organic evolution claiming that new species
arise and are perpetuated by natural selection [syn:
Darwinism]
Definitions from macroDevelopment:
Creationism can simply mean the belief that there is a Creator. However it usually refers to young earth creationism, which has been deftly defined as the rewriting of science to fit a certain view of scripture. Also see Concordism and Relativistic Hermeneutics.
Darwinism The theory that natural selection operates on variations in older species to produce offspring that can be called new species, and that this explains the appearance of all species - see neo-darwinism. Unlike what most people think, Darwin did not claim the variations were random, nor does the theory assume the starting material was non-living matter. Because of these important details, the theory is a far cry from the modern theory of neo-darwinism. The term darwinism is often used when what is really meant is neo-darwinism.
Evolution has several meanings. 1) Life has a history of change through time. 2) Living things are all related by descent from common ancestors. 3) Darwin's theory of natural selection. 4) Life arose by chance, therefore there is no creator. The word evolution can mean any combination of these definitions and can sometimes be determined from the context. Unfortunately, often the meaning is ambiguous. In almost every article where you see the word "evolution" the author has the mistaken impression that there is only one meaning to the word, and it refers to the most modern theory. Other times it could mean only that life has changed on the earth. It is helpful to keep in mind is that it is only a modern phenomenon that in most minds there are only two possibilities for origins: atheistic materialism or 6 day creation.
Is it any more scientific to say it s not God than that it is God?
Maybe God put gravity on automatic, so to speak. If God exists and God created gravity, He might not be performing a miracle everytime something heavy falls to the ground.
But maybe God created each species of life miraculously. It apparently took millions of years, and He might not have found it boring to tweak His design from time to time and see what came of it.
I think natural selection is an excellent hypothesis and entitled to be called a scientific theory. I m not sure it s a law like MA quite yet.
- That s called or depending on whether or not you think he interfered after creation.
- I suppose the scientific answer to that is "Well, I suppose it could be that way, but so what if it is?" If God s actions are indistinguishable from God s inaction (or non-existence), then what s the point of making a distinction? See .
Darwinian evolution requires that species undergo change, that these changes are inherited, and that they affect fitness. The primary causes of change known to science are sexual reproduction (combination of DNA from two parents) and random mutation, usually caused by radiation (for example, we can cause bacteria in culture to evolve faster by irradiating them). There might well be other causes, such as chemical toxins, human genetic engineering, God, whatever.
As I ve seen the term used, "Darwinism" most often refers to any Darwinian process, biological or otherwise. I m removing your definition and placing it here, because I really don t think it reflects actual usage of the word except maybe among creationists, and such a parochial definition of a term used for rhetoric has no place in a general-audience encyclopedia. LDC
- It wasn t my definition, I just found it there and quoted it here. Ed Poor
- Perhaps a NPOV definition of Darwinism would simply be "the theory of evolution espoused by Darwin." I don t mean anything sinister about it, but if the suffix "-ism" somehow seems derogatory maybe it s not a useful word. Marxism, on the other hand, seems to denote a particular flavor of communist thought. Hmm. Ed Poor
- A theory of biological developed by and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the of small, inherited variations that increase the individual s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.
- Darwinism is actually a "meta-theory" which encompasses a number of independent sub-theories: , , , , , .
I removed the following paragraph because (1) It s about biological evolution, and this article clearly states that its topic is not biological evolution; and (2) It s from a book whose authors are not biologists or otherwise respected scientists, so their opinions on the matter are uninformed, deceptive, and unworthy of inclusion.
"Although neo-Darwinian theory requires vast periods of time for the step-by-step development of new biological organs and body plans, fossil finds have repeatedly confirmed a pattern of explosive appearance followed by prolonged stability of living forms. Moreover, the fossil record shows a "top-down" hierarchical pattern of appearance in which major structural themes or body plans emerge before minor variations on those themes.22 Not only does this pattern directly contradict the "bottom-up" pattern predicted by neo-Darwinism, but as University of San Francisco marine paleobiologist Paul Chien and several colleagues have argued,23 it also strongly resembles the pattern evident in the history of human technological design, again suggesting actual (i.e., intelligent) design as the best explanation for the data."
Church position must have a prominent section IMO, creationism being the main opponent.
BTW I stumbled upon the following claim:
- John Paul II wrote a letter to the Pontificial Academy of Sciences in 1997 advising Vatican scientists (and Catholics at large) that the Church doesn?t have a problem with the scientific theory of evolution
- This article is about Darwinism as a philosophical concept; see evolution for the page on biological evolution; modern evolutionary synthesis for neo-Darwinism; and also evolution (disambiguation).
Darwinism is a term used for various processes related to the ideas of Charles Darwin, particularly concerning evolution and natural selection. Darwinism in this sense is not synonymous with evolution, but rather with evolution by natural selection. Modern biology suggests a number of other mechanisms involved in evolution which were unknown to Darwin, such as genetic drift.
Also, Darwinism may be used to contrast it with other, discredited mechanisms of evolution that were historically thought possible, such as Lamarckism or mutationism. More recently, intelligent design creationists have used the word to contrast accepted evolutionary biology with their pseudoscientific ideas.
To say that Darwinism is often used by biologists is an understatement that verges on bathos; Darwinian random variation and subsequent selection is occasionally used by mathematicians to describe evolutionary processes that resemble the evolution of life, such as the development of software with genetic algorithms.
In the 19th-century context in which Darwin's Origin of Species was first received, "Darwinism" came to stand for an entire range of evolutionary (and often revolutionary) philosophies about both biology and society. One of the more prominent approaches was that summed in the phrase "survival of the fittest" by the philosopher Herbert Spencer, which was later taken to be emblematic of Darwinism even though Spencer's own understanding of evolution was more Lamarckian than Darwinian. What we now call "Social Darwinism" was, in its day, synonymous with "Darwinism" — the application of Darwinian principles of "struggle" to society, usually in support of anti-philanthropic political agendas. Another interpretation, one notably favored by Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, was that Darwinism implied that because natural selection was apparently no longer working on "civilized" people it was possible for "inferior" strains of people (who would normally be filtered out of the gene pool) to overwhelm the "superior" strains, and corrective measures would have to be undertaken — the foundation of eugenics.
In Darwin's day there was no rigid definition of the term "Darwinism", and it was used by opponents and proponents of Darwin's biological theory alike to mean whatever they wanted it to in a larger context.
In a modern definition of the term, a Darwinian process requires the following schema:
- Self-replication/Inheritance: Some number of entities must be capable of producing copies of themselves, and those copies must also be capable of reproduction. The new copies must inherit the traits of old ones. Sometimes the different variations are recombined in sexual reproduction.
- Variation: There must be a range of different traits in the population of entities, and there must be a mechanism for introducing new variations into the population.
- Selection: Inherited traits must somehow affect the ability of the entities to reproduce themselves, either by survival, or natural selection, or by ability to produce offspring by finding partners, or sexual selection.
If the entity or organism survives to reproduce, the process restarts. Sometimes, in stricter formulations, it is required that variation and selection act on different entities, variation on the replicator (genotype) and selection on the interactor (phenotype).
Darwinism asserts that any system given these conditions, by whatever means, evolution is likely to occur. That is, over time, the entities will accumulate complex traits that favor their reproduction. (Universal Darwinism)
Application and examples
Most obviously, this can refer to biological evolution. However, it has other potential spheres, the best known of which is the meme, a concept of inheritance and modification of ideas introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It has been disputed if this was a Darwinian process, since it is unproven that memes undergo random mutations.
Another example to illustrate are computer systems (PCs). Taking the software as the replicator and the whole system as the interactor, it could be seen as a Darwinian system, however, the code does not change randomly, but is directionally changed or rewritten from scratch; also systems do not reproduce.
Daniel Dennett (1995) in Darwin's Dangerous Idea argues for universal Darwinism.
External links
da:Darwinisme de:Darwinismus es:Darwinismo lt:Darvinizmas nl:Darwinisme ja:ダーウィニズム no:Darwinisme pl:Darwinizm pt:Darwinismo sv:Darwinism
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