naturalist/naturalism—a doctrine that denies a supernatural explanation of the origin or development of the universe and holds that scientific laws account for all of nature.

axiomatic-a statement generally accepted as true.

saltatory—1. of or relating to dancing 2. proceeding by leaps rather than by gradual transitions: discontinuous.

19th century findings of nature-- distinct phyla (types)
--no intermediates between different classes found.
--many organisms seemed to be integrated wholes.
--supported by Aristotle > church > religious belief > science
supported theological claims.

Charles Darwin—father was a doctor. English. Studied medicine (and quit), then theology.
Interested in natural history. In 1831 made a voyage on the ship called The
Beagle to the Galapagos Islands.

“Darwin’s Finches”—a unique set of distinct finches found on the Archipelago. !4 different
ones.

wastrel—one that wastes: spendthrift
entomology—a branch of zoology that deals with insects.
ornithological—a branch of zoology dealing with birds
paucity—smallness of number or quantity

There was really nothing novel about Darwin’s theory—it can be traced back to the philosophies of the Ionian nature philosophers (?) .

Naturalistic theory

~Hume-the world is composed of a finite number of particles which were in perpetual random
motion. In time the particles enter every possible combination and enter stable configurations
that tend to persist. Random juggling of matter must eventually produce ordered forms
adapted to their environment and giving the appearance of design.

Vitalistic theory

Lamarck—improvements could be passed on to offspring and gradually improve
characteristics. Evolutionary change was directed according to the requirement
of the organism.

Malthus—1838, the idea that all living things were struggling for existence and under
Pressure because only the fittest survived.

Evolution > natural selection, random mutation > chance events

Origins of Species

Special theory—new races and species arise in nature by natural selection.
General theory—the special theory applies universally, the appearance of life can be
explained by processes that bring about trivial changes.

Species > genus > family > orders > classes > phyla (the primary division of animal and plant Kingdom)

~an underlying unity found in the design of organisms.
~homology and comparative anatomy provided circumstantial evidence for macro-
evolutionary theory.
~fossil record showed life from simple to more complex
~incapable of providing logically compelling evidence in a mathematical sense (no
clear cut intermediates).
~natural selection can only occur slowly and gradually. The fossil record does not
show this (intermediates are missing).
~even though something may be possible, it may not be probable.

By 1872, Darwin was filled with self doubt and frustrated by his inability to meet the many objections to his theory.
~ he did not have sufficient evidence to establish his theory.
~ evolution had not been directly observed in nature.
~ he provided no direct evidence that natural selection had ever caused any biological change
in nature.

****The acceptance of new ideas is often dependent on the influence of non-scientific factors of a social, psychological, and philosophical nature. There was a prevailing belief in the inevitability of progress- the theory of evolution extended the scientific method to the biological sciences by giving a natural explanation to the design of living things.

Darwin’s Evolution Typology

-science based -metaphysical basis
-continuity of nature -nature viewed as discontinuous
-gradualism -no explanation of how the discontinuity
-emphasized natural causes came about
-dated
-associated with traditional biblical
framework

Most biologists came to view life as the product of a natural evolutionary process, even though the model was not established as a fact. Before 1859 it was fashionable and intellectually respectable to view the world as a discontinuous system—after 1859 it became intellectually respectable to view life as the natural product of purely natural processes operating over long periods of time.

It wasn’t until the 1950’s (almost 100 years later) that evidence was obtained suggesting the occurrence of natural selection in nature. Oxford Zoologist Bernard Kettlewell tested light and dark moths in wooded areas and apparently observed natural selection in action.

Note however that these studies have now been shown to be very questionable, and their results can not be trusted.

~ today the origin of a new species from a pre-existing species has never been directly observed.
~ Evidence for evolution that does not depend on observation:
a) finding a sequence that leads from one form to another
b) reconstructing them hypothetically including genealogy and intermediate forms with a
convincing explanation of how each stage of the transformation came about.

Speciation (or micro evolutionary change)---study of the Drosophila fruit fly in Hawaii has revealed one of the most dramatic cases of perfect sequential arrangements providing compelling evidence that new species do arise from pre-existing species in nature.

Geographical isolation—is a key event that prevents interbreeding with the parent population and allows the isolated daughter population to undergo adaptive changes leading to a new species.

In conclusion, Darwin’s special theory (microevolution) has proved correct. Natural selection has been observed and speciation has been securely documented. Evolutionary biologists have worked out a model showing step by step, precisely how species formation occurs in nature.

Darwin’s theory of macroevolution has not been proven correct.
~ Because a certain degree of evolution occurs does not mean any degree of evolution occurs.
~ Problem solving by trial and error is highly unlikely for more complex problems.
~ There is a limit to gradual change in a complex system.
~To cross from one “type” of system to another requires massive reorganization/adjustment.

Main premise: ~All the variants exhibited by the individual members of a particular class were merely variation on an underlying theme or design which was fundamentally invariant or immutable.
~No class could be led to gradually or linked to another class through a sequence of intermediates, which contrasts completely with the idea of evolution.

Respected typologists included:
*Carl Linneaus, a Swedish botanist
*George Cuvier, a French biologist
*Richard Owen, a British anatomist who developed a classification system for fossil reptiles and originated the term “dinosaur”.
*Charles Lyell, a Scottish geologist

Evolutionists charged these ideas were not based upon facts of nature, but from religious and metaphysical influences that were popular at the time. It is likely these accusations are greatly exaggerated.

~Each organism was a uniquely adapted whole.
~Breeding experiments with domestic animals revealed a distinct limit beyond which further change became impossible.
~Gradations are not found in the fossil record.
~Lack of factual evidence is their primary source of disbelief, not religious prejudice.
~At the level above the species, the typological model holds almost universally.
~Each class of organisms possesses a number of unique defining characteristics which occur in fundamentally invariant form in all the species of that class, but which are not found even in a rudimentary form in any species outside the class (i.e. mammals).

Cilia—in all types of organisms it is found to have the same basic structure (typical 9+2 arrangement). There is no hint of evolution (halfway structures).
Genetic code-no evidence of evolving gradually
Primates-from tree shrewàlemuràmonkey—>apeàman There are not clear transitional stages between quadrupedal primates and the bipedal.

Classification schemes for phenomena, which have a continuous or obvious sequential pattern, have class boundaries which are arbitrary and indistinct. Venn diagrams usually depict these types of phenomena. Hierarchic diagrams, on the other hand, have no overlapping or indistinct groups and are more orderly. The absence of overlapping classes also implies the absence of sequential relationships within the groups. Venn diagrams usually depict natural phenomenon and hierarchal classification are usually used for artificial situations (i.e. filing systems).

A tree diagram is a hierarchal classification system. It is orderly, and does not imply natural sequence. It represents theoretical logic. The branches represent concepts in the mind of the creator.

Biological classification—identifying groups of organisms which share similar characteristics. Aristotle was the first to formulate the general logical principles of classification. It was the beginning of the classification of nature in a hierarchal system. In the 18th and 19th century, the naturalists and biologists of the time reaffirmed the hierarchic order of nature. Even with the rise of evolution and the rejection of the metaphysical basis of typology, the perception of a hierarchal pattern to natures order has remained constant through the years.

Newer methodologies used to determine the true pattern of nature.

~phenetics—characters recorded in numerical form and algorithms are manipulated by computers to calculate the phonetic differences, which are converted to classifications, called phenograms.

~cladistics—probably the most influential system—cladists goal is to discover the pattern of nature as it actually exists. A cladogram depicts the distribution pattern of unique shared characteristics (homologies) among a group of organisms. They usually result in a hierarchic pattern. The evolutionary community views cladism as a threat that could threaten their credibility.

Homology defined: structural likeness between corresponding parts of different plants or animals due to evolution from a common ancestor.

~homology has been traditionally cited by evolutionary biologists as providing powerful evidence for the concept of evolution. It has remained the mainstay of the argument for evolution to the present day.

~Darwin never claimed to provide proof of evolution, but if it did occur, some facts would be indirectly explained based on the significance of similarities found in different organisms descended from a common ancestor (homologies).

~Embryological and genetic research has shown that homologous structures are often specified by non-homologous genetic systems and the concept of homology can rarely be traced back to embryology. Different routes can originate similar homologous structures.

~Apparently homologous structures are specified by quite different genes in different species.

~Almost every gene studied in higher organisms has been found to effect more than one organ system (pleiotrophy). Evolution cannot explain the independent origin of structures that are incredibly similar.

There are gaps separating existing species and groups of organisms. Intermediates and the transitional forms between them are vital to the theory of evolution. The fact that they are largely missing is a major flaw in their argument.

~the search for the “missing links” became an obsession.
~the search included the ocean floor or maybe a “lost world” but none were ever found.

Evolutions major hope lay in the fossils. Geologists and paleontologists had studied a relatively small area of the earth. Today there are few areas left to discover and the new fossil species discovered have been closely related to known forms or are unique.

~it is difficult to draw conclusions about the overall biology of organisms from their skeletal remains alone. Because the soft biology of extinct groups can never be known with certainty, then the intermediates cannot be confirmed.

Three explanations are offered for the gaps in the fossil record:

1) insufficient search > not all strata have been examined (increasingly unlikely).
2) the imperfection of the fossil record > only a fraction of the species that lived left fossil
remains (controversial—the record could be as high as 80-87% accurate).
3) saltational evolution > the gaps are real and evolution occurred in a series of jumps. The
greater the leaps the less transitional forms required.

Punctuational Model of Speciation—(Niles Eldridge and Stephen J. Gould), also called
Punctuated Equilibrium > new species arise rapidly in peripherally isolated populations.
This lowers the chance for fossilization.

As in biological evolution, where transitional organisms that would bridge the gaps and provide firm evidence of gradual evolutionary descent are missing, so also in linguistics, historical and documentary evidence of the origin and development of language groups are often missing.

~In linguistics, they have been able to prove that English, Dutch, German, and Icelandic languages descended from a Proto-Germanic tongue.
~They have worked out in very exact detail all the changes that occurred along the pathways.
~This illustrates that if detailed and plausible reconstructions are provided, an evolutionary relationship is almost certain.
~Evolution offers only generalized explanations of how transitions may have occurred. Detailed analyses of transitional stages (including anatomy and physiology) showing gradual evolution have not been provided.

There are two ways one can justify belief in evolution:
A. By finding the connecting links, or
B. Reconstructing the connecting links

The trouble with reconstructing hypothetical organisms is that living organisms are tremendously more complex than, for example, any language. Reconstruction of an organism that could actually function and survive is unlikely. Changes that appear trivial (i.e. change in size) on closer examination requires more extensive reorganization than previously thought.

Proteins—carry on essential activities on which cell life depends. They consist of long chain like molecules, or polymers. Polymers are made of simple compounds called amino acids.

Amino Acids used in Proteins

Alanine	Ala	Isoleucine	Ile
Arginine	Arg	Leucine	Leu
Asparagine	Asn	Lysine	Lys
Aspartic Acid	Asp	Methionine	Met
Asn and/or Asp	Asx	Phenylalanine	Phe
Cysteine	Cys	Proline	Pro
Glutamine	Gln	Serine	Ser
Glutamic Acid	Glu	Threonine	Thr
Gin and/or Glu	Glx	Tryptophan	Trp
Glycine	Gly	Tyrosine	Tyr
Histidine	His	Valine	Val

Each amino acid contains an amino (NH2) and a carboxyl acid (COOH) linked by a carbon atom, and a unique side chain.

NH2 > CH > COOH
+
unique chain

Some are hydrophobic—insoluble in H20
Some are hydrophilic—soluble in H2O Some are acids/or bases.
Most proteins have between 100 and 500 amino acids.

Proteins are incapable of assembling themselves without nucleic acids –they are the blueprints for the particular proteins. Two types: DNA > only found in the nucleus (double helix), and RNA > carries the information to other parts of the cell (single strand).

DNA > RNA > Proteins
(master blueprint) (photocopy) (functional machines)

DNA is made up of nucleotides > phosphate radical, a sugar, and a nitrogenous base.
Nucleic acids do not fold up into 3D shapes but remain long and chain like.

Transcription > The process of copying the nucleotide sequence to a gene.

The differences between the living and non-living world represent the most dramatic and fundamental of all the discontinuities of nature. It is difficult to reconstruct the transitional system which eventually led to the modern cell. If it could occur on Earth, then it may have occurred on other similar planets also, which would be a positive step for proving evolution.
~current belief still holds hope of intelligent extraterrestrial life.
~there were great hopes of life on Mars, but the Viking samples did not indicate any real evidence for life.

Basic outline of Evolution

On the early Earth, all the basic organic compounds necessary for the formation of a living cell accumulated in the ocean, creating a nutrient broth (or the biotic soup) which eventually evolved into the first simple cell.
~The prebiotic soup is crucial. Without the abiotic accumulation of the building blocks of the cell, no life could ever evolve.
~Rocks of great antiquity have been studied, and none have any abiotically produced organic compounds in them.
~Oxygen in the atmosphere would have oxidized and degraded organic compounds. Without oxygen, ultraviolet light would be allowed through the ozone layer, and this would kill the nucleic acids rapidly.
~The complexity of the simplest known cell is so great that it is improbable that it could have been made by an accidental, random process.
~Simpler, crudely made proteins are unlikely to have ever been able to carry out the specific functions necessary for the cell to function.

From the founding of biology until the 1960’s, the only way of classifying organisms and assessing the differences between species was by comparing their structures. The molecular biological revolution provided a new way of comparing organisms: comparing their protein configurations. Closely related species had closely related sequences.
~ As more proteins were compared, it became increasingly apparent that the findings reaffirmed the traditional view.
~The most striking feature is that each identifiable subclass of sequences is isolated and distinct (they have no intermediates).

Each class is isolated and unique. There are no intermediates or partial inclusions in other classes.

The study of RNA tells the same story. On the basis of RNA sequences, the three primary kingdoms (plants, animals, and bacteria) stand the same distance apart and also the same distance apart from a theoretical common primeval ancestor. It is well established that the pattern of diversity at a molecular level conforms to a highly ordered hierarchic system. The molecules are unique, isolated, and unlinked by intermediates. The most remarkable discovery is undoubtedly the way the molecular patterns correspond to the predictions of typology.

molecular clock hypothesis—the idea that the degree of evolution in a family of molecules (Cytochrome C) has been constrained by some kind of time constant mechanism, so that in any one class the degree of change is always proportional to the lapse of absolute time, indicating that an ordered pattern of molecular diversity can be explained.

tautological—needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word

cytochrome—any of several intracellular hemoprotein respiratory pigments that are enzymes functioning as transporters of electrons to molecular oxygen by undergoing alternate oxidation and reduction. Cytochrome C is very widespread in nature and is a very recognizable molecule found in rats, bats, cats, and bacteria.

According to Darwinian theory, the initial mutational changes upon which natural selection acts upon are entirely random (or blind as to the effects they may have). Experience has shown this method to be very inefficient, because in principle many problems could be solved by trying all the possibilities, but in reality most problems are too complex to actually ever complete such an analysis. For example:

~finding words by chance in a group of letters, or making sentences is highly improbable due to the complex letters put together in highly specific ways.
~other examples include watches, computer programs, and airplane engines (all complex systems).
~living organisms are highly complex systems that are made up of a number of co-systems, which are adapted to interact with each other. If one co-system would cease to function or lag behind the others in its evolution, the entire organism would cease to exist.
~In 1974, Brian Hartley proposed that proteins are similar to sentences in their complexity and can only undergo limited degrees of change without affecting the functioning of the entire system.

Years after Darwin’s book The Origin of Species was published, the theory of evolution was not completely accepted by many leading biologists and scientists. Some who voiced their doubts included Holgar Hyden (a Swedish neurobiologist), Paul Weiss and W. H. Thorpe (zoologists), and Jean Piaget (a leading child psychologist).

The incredible brilliance of complex systems that are perfectly adapted to smoothly work together, seems unlikely to be wrought by sheer chance. For example:

~miniaturization and storage of information in DNA (overlapping genes).
~proteins that have fulfilled and completed their functions are broken down into smaller proteins, which perform functions unrelated to the original proteins, utilizing the protein completely.

Today, when we examine a complex piece of machinery (a watch, for example), we would not conclude that natural forces made the watch by chance. We would be relatively certain some intelligent being made the watch. Advances in biological research during the last twenty years have affirmed that natural organisms are indeed similar to machines, and in many cases (i.e. human intelligence, storage and transfer of information in DNA, etc….) far exceed the complexity of today’s technology. If today’s machines point to an intelligent designer, then comparatively, the natural wonders discovered must point to an intelligent designer as well.

Over the years, it has become clear that Darwin’s theory of microevolution is indeed correct. This theory has been directly observed and documented at work in nature. New species are formed by a small series of genetic changes which occur naturally and randomly.

Darwin’s theory of macroevolution, however, has not been confirmed by research. The theory that all life forms are somehow related and linked together with a common ancestor and the theory that evolutionary changes are a result of a completely random process cannot be proven at this time.

The “missing links” have not been discovered and cannot be explained away by the evolutionists sampling error hypothesis. If the sampling error hypothesis were true, then an increase in the sampling would most certainly narrow the size of the “gaps”. This has not happened, but surprisingly just the opposite has occurred—the divisions in nature seem as large as ever!

A theory, no matter how appealing it may be to society cannot be “wished” into acceptance, and Darwin’s theory of macroevolution is no exception to this rule. As with all unproved theories there are, to this day, questions that cannot be adequately explained. Because evolutionists want so badly for their theory to be proven true, they have gone to great lengths to try to find/promote even the slightest evidence to support it, even when that evidence is against common sense. The law of continuity, for example, is ingrained in most biologists’ minds, even though it is not necessarily a law of nature. If we look solely upon facts alone, they do not point to continuity.

Historically, one scientific theory cannot be rejected without another to take its place. Darwin’s theory of evolution remains the only completely scientific theory of evolution at this time, which has contributed greatly to its lack of opposition and blind acceptance by society. If this theory is to be disproved, then there must be another to take its place.

Darwin’s theory of evolution, although it cannot be proven correct, still influences our lives today because it is based upon the claim that a creator or intelligent designer is not necessary, and proposes that life was born by a mindless system of trial and error. This secular mindset has affected much more than just the biological sciences; it has changed our society as a whole.