Reflections On Evolution

Evolution is a scientific theory asserting that species of organisms are capable of changing through time into different species. Present day species are thought to share common ancestors and genetic continuity with species that lived in the past. Evolution replaced an ancient view that species are basically static over time, not capable of significant change. Although Darwin was not the first to propose evolutionary views, he initiated a rapid paradigm shift. Within twelve years after publication of his On Origin of the Species in 1859, evolution became the predominant explanation by most mainstream Western intellectuals for how living organisms got here. Many scholars believe that evolution, in any recognizable form, only emerged in the eighteenth century associated with a broader philosophy of progress, and it continued to be strongly associated with that philosophy and ideology until the middle of the twentieth century. Even today, remnants of that association still survive. Evolution has always been culturally and ideologically linked. This linkage is so strong that evolution has been used in this work as a model to make a point that science is a social enterprise directly influenced by its cultural milieu. Such analysis rejects the more popular view that science is, or can be, merely a dispassionate search for the truth, detached from any cultural norm or ideology. Evolution has always had wide-ranging implications; it is an idea that reverberates far beyond science. One reason for this is that it removes humans and other living organisms from the status of being directly and specially created by God. Increasingly since Darwin, evolution explains the history of life in a materialistic way, freeing biology from theological constraints on the important question of how species got here. By detaching biology from the supernatural, evolution allowed biology to become modern science. Evolution also acts as one of the few unifying concepts in biology, bringing biology's many desperate areas together into a cohesive scientific discipline. Recent developments in science and technology, many in the area of molecular biology, have resulted in the emergence of a new understanding of evolutionary mechanisms and they are providing deeper insight into the unity of living organisms and how biological novelty emerges. As incredible as these advances are, they have not silenced the religious debates that have historically been associated with evolution. These debates have continued into the twenty-first century. However, evolution is not necessarily at odds with religion. At least since Darwin, mainstream religions in the West have accommodated at least some form of it. This work attempts to place twenty-first century evolution into a historical and ideological context. New scientific ideas and discoveries that have shaped, and are shaping, evolution are discussed within this framework. Also discussed are how these discoveries are transforming, contradicting, and reshaping traditional Darwinism and new synthesis evolutionary thought.