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Darwinā€™s Untimely Burial - College Paper

Darwinā€™s Untimely Burial

Darwin's Untimely Burial

Stephen Jay Gould, "Darwin's Untimely Burial," Natural History 85 (Oct. 1976): 24-30. ]

Ever since Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, individuals involved with science and religion have tried to negate his thesis. Some scholars, such as British philosopher Tom Bethell, have seen "something very, very wrong with this idea," and hoped to contain it to the sphere of biology and ban its spread into cosmology, psychology, the arts, ethics and religion. Others, such as scientist Jay Gould, recognize Darwin as one of the most brilliant people in history. In the essay, "Darwin's Untimely Burial," Gould refutes Bethell and claims (paraphrasing Mark ...

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has a problem with the idea of "survival of the fittest." This term normally means no more than "differential reproductive success"-the production of more surviving offspring than other competing members of the population-which is a needless repetition of the same meaning. "The crucial phrase of natural selection means no more than "the survival of those who survive"-a vacuous tautology" such as "my father is a man," argues Bethell.
In the second place, Bethell agrees that Darwin proposed an independent criterion to define fitness other than survival. However, this also presented a problem, because it was an analogy...a dangerous and slippery strategy. "Later evolutionists," argues Bethell, "recognize the failure of Darwin's analogy and redefined 'fitness' as mere survival. But they did not realize that they had undermined the logical structure of Darwin's central postulate. Nature provides no independent criterion of fitness; thus, natural selection is ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/28/2017 01:06:41 AM
Category: Science & Nature
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 957
Pages: 4

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