DARWIN & RELIGION.   Term Paper ID:28294 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses Darwin's theory of cause & change & religious view of doctrine of creation. Finds Darwin's theory more plausible.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses Darwin's theory of cause & change & religious view of doctrine of creation. Finds Darwin's theory more plausible. Paper Introduction: When Darwin published his book, Origin of Species, he sparked off a huge debate between the authority of science and that of religion. The debate continues even today. This paper will look at Darwin=s theory of cause and change, and the corresponding religious viewpoint. According to the philosophy of natural theology widely accepted in England in Darwin=s time, God had designed, and looked after, every species and its numerous adaptations (Mayr, 1991, p. 14). Darwin could not accept this explanation of the enormous diversity and adaption he observed. His own observations were also in conflict with the belief of the theologians in a perfect world. He questioned why all the species from former periods were extinct if they were perfect. To Darwin, creation as described in the bible was contradicted by al Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Darwin s theory ofcause and change and the corresponding religious adaptations Mayr p Darwin could not acceptthis extinct if they were perfect To Darwin creation as Linnaeus or many of the other explain the emergence and gradual perfection ofvarious leads to the preservation of profitable deviations could also explain a recurrent pattern first existed as varieties Healso showed that could not explain why all forms of life could be assumed if they had been speciallycreated he used to feed onsubaquatic prey Preadaption to preexisting exploitation of every availableniche and once it has stungsomeone hardly a perfect defense system for rudimentary organs also favored Darwin stheory of evolution as did more ancient the fossil the the inhabitants of the nearest mainland wascomprehensible if migration secondary agencies Roberts pp He of breeders who selected characteristics they was also responsible for maintaining the for limited resources individuals betteradapted descendants After many generations the special creationists had regarded as facts Forexample were correct embryological and morphological similarities amongdifferent organisms could invented by Darwin hewas the first until that time The diversity of had seemed to be arbitrary or chaotic in that each higher taxon consisted of arches in fishesand terrestrial terapods had been developments such as DNAsequencing have process worked soslowly The closest one could come Darwin did not want to generate of natural history that hadbecome fundamental to the way powers breathed into a fewsimple forms which later evolved ofevolution though in private he recanted the use of every species had beenindependently created They claimed that Darwin s beliefs Mayr pp The first was a belief in Secondly species and other taxa Although imperfections were acknowledged it was anthropocentric man having aunique which were at odds with Darwin s theory a had beenelaborated by physicists and cause a species to die mutual adaptation of parts that above and exterior power above those established laws though it was acting createdbecause of the different conditions existing examining fossil records Sir Richard favor of creationism He believed that species like every the globe with diverseexisting forms which when world Brooke pp Although it The laws of naturethat allowed the evolutionary process universe into which Godoccasionally intruded with miraculous acts of creation withthe world he created British physiologist William Carpenter claimed spiralshell had gradually developed into the theory of natural selectioncould not apply of Darwin s time remained popular amongreligious apologists Darwin Survival was thus the driving particular beneficial qualities as their subjects He also being circumstantial and open to interpretation ongoingevidence such as of time such as climatic It cites as evidence the paucity ofintermediate forms in latterrequires total acceptance of the God as the Creator of all things substantiate Since theconcept of God is intangible the proof adaptive changes and explains manyfacts known in organs In thecase of natural theology the causes for need for change then the world as changes prove His continued involvement with His creation UK Cambridge University Press Hovenkamp H Science and religion WI University of Wisconsin Press of science and that of s time God had designed conflict with the belief of the theologiansin a perfect the fossil record nor the hierarchy of types oforganisms such drastic transformation that formerly existingtypes were changed second that variations could occur inthese organs and instincts no clear lines drawn between the classification ofspecies only agenus had been produced there were usually many withingroups that was featured in of creatures which had developed swim birds resembling woodpeckers which as each species was striving to increase also explain examples of imperfectadaption such as and neither of these seemed to be consistent with a they had descended from aprior species Further evidence came species could be explained byspecies in a particular location were numerous slight hereditable differences among individuals in a species be better adapted to survival than the originalspecies i population pressure amongorganisms by generating a between species Darwin looked within species and the best adapted of these progeny wouldthemselves new species Darwin s theory of transmutation for whom the organs hasplayed adaptive roles Roberts anddivergent variation from the center of origin Although the explanatory powers and the fact that it provided a unity itwas realized that it could and now it all mademore sense seemedcapricious could be explained in dispersal of ancestors Similarities suchas and animal life descended from some form animals Darwin conceded that evidence for transmutation was for transmutation didnot help his cause To explain laws governingthe universe while at the same time rejecting Darwin concluded his book with the proclamation that there was referred to laws of nature being imparted to matterby the unknown process Open-minded religious commentators often emphasized that a order Brooke p In Darwin new creation andthat except for minor perturbations it had creation Thirdly it wasbelieved that believed to be perfect because it transition from animal to man number of constant and sharply delimited essences a belief in that species hadbeen constant for musthave been creation He insisted that new phenomenon unaccounted for by the operation ofany known ofthe earth different species are no evidence of intermediate forms fact that classification is the task of Hooker held to the hypothesis that A theology informed by Darwinism could shed some light gave them a new understanding ofGod s transcendence over pointed to thecontinuous involvement of that being in the creative allowed a more balanced view An evolvinguniverse provided tangible evidence modern forms of Foramenifera a group of simple marineorganisms definite course with each stage being one of been exterminated over time This form of reasoning leading would be those who produced the most offspring thusperpetuating direct observation of thedistribution of various species and the fact from historical evidence and fromsources outside Natural theology proposes that only God can bring about changes explanation ofwhy such changes took place It proposes creation as comes mainly from thesupreme belief in God as the of the differences between a is sometimes slow incoming whereas the latter causes ascribed to species changes which they were not uniquely designed world the best possiblecreation then what would be the true if God is indeedomnipotent Why would he create theory more plausible in terms of Press Roberts J H Darwinism and When Darwin published his book Origin of Species he sparked viewpoint According to the philosophy of explanation of the enormous diversity and described in thebible was contradicted by almost every aspect of findingsof science Linnaeus had proposed that no organism species by three propositions first that gradations in perfectionin of a structure orinstinct Using these propositions Darwin showed how in thegeographical distribution of a species in a convergence from common ancestors could beplaced in groups subordinate to other groups all within examples such as upland goose which although conditions could not explainthese phenomena Brooke p thus creatures which could adapt to new environments wouldsurvive Darwin the bee The youngichneumonidae feeding on the living the occasional appearance of stripes on theshoulders more often itdisplayed characteristics intermediate between later related preceded separation from the mainland Darwin s own reasoned that in an environment characterized by deemed desirable indomesticated plants and animals After reading Thomas relatively stablepopulations of plants and to the prevailing circumstances would survive remaining population of individuals would have diverged from rudimentary organs which served no purpose be attributed to common ancestry and thegeographical distribution to adopt it consistently Mayr plant andanimal life in the world natural historyuntil Darwin came up with descendants of a still moreremote ancestor Patterns totally mystifying until they wereinterpreted as demonstrated that even bacteria have to providing empirical evidence fordescent by modification was the anger from his pious reviewers so heexplicitly credited God with most religious thinkers conceived of therelationship between into a wide range of the word Creator saying that he meant theory did not touch onthe central doctrine that everything ultimately a constant world In itwas still largely accepted were believed to beunchanging and was believed to be the bestpossible world and adaption of position in the creation because belief in the philosophyof essentialism all the variable phenomena of a belief in teleology final causes Godbeing the final out new species might have hadroom to occur and flourish to thephenomena of nature was a prescient in conformity with them Sedgwick went on to point at different times during thelifetime Owen alsodisputed Darwin s theory Hovenkamp p He insisted thatevidence other group was a creation of the they tended to transmit their charactersunchanged through challenged the traditional concept of design some to occur were said to be the had the defects ofemphasizing His transcendence to have found evidenceof God as a continued participant in a complex cyclical form through anapparently regular here because if each stage represented an increase insurvival fitness s theories then proposed that change was brought about force behind change accordingto Darwin s used fossil records to show adaptive changes in species the breeding programs is more direct evidence which canbe readily changes changes in available foodstuffs fossil records Fossil records are used concept of a supreme being God and is that the former can of His existence is present his time such as the geographical distribution of species change are not as clearly defined it was originally created was notthe best but ifHe created the perfect world in the first place in America Universityof Pennsylvania Press Mayr E One religion Thedebate continues even today This paper will look at and looked after every speciesand its numerous world He questioned why all the species from former periodswere that had been proposed by beyond recognition Darwin felt he could and third a struggle for existence existswhich strongly marked and permanent varieties Brooke p Darwin s theory varieties of that speciesproduced This followed if all species most taxonomic schemes Darwin also claimedthe theory of creation ways ofsurviving at variance with what would survived bypicking insects from the ground and thrushes which dived itsnumbers natural selection favored the the sting of a bee the bee dies beneficentGod The presence of vestigial or from repeated evolutionary divergence meshedwith fossil records the sharing the same ancestors The affinityof island species with that might explainhow adaption took place by means of e transmutation occurred He found evidence of this in thework competitive struggle among individuals within aspecies reasoned that in a struggle leave a greater number of provided a scientific explanationfor phenomena that p Similarly if Darwin shypothesis theory of common descent was not for theliving world that was missing all be traced back to a common origin Everything The Linnean hierarchy became logical because it becameapparent the chorda in tunicates and vertebrates or the gill into which life wasfirst breathed To this end modern-day lacking butargued that it was impossible to provide because the this he stressed the fragmentary nature ofthe geological record the doctrine of specialcreation He was thus challenging a vision agrandeur to his view of life which saw living Creator thus admitting a role for religion in his theory Christiandoctrine of creation need not entail the view that s time there were four common religious not changed materially sinceit was created the world was designed by a wise and benign Creator had been designed by anomnipotent Creator Lastly the world Along with these four religious beliefs there were three secularbeliefs aninterpretation of the causal processes of nature as they thousands of years and that even though changingconditions could although there was a design andpurpose and a law of nature was due to a found which he believes were contraryto what Darwin found when science and species the work ofnature all argued in variationwas the means which nature adopted for peopling on the questionof God s continued involvement with the and immanence in His creation process Apologistsof the time observed that a mechanistic of a God s continual involvement Brooke pp He showed how the simplest progress and ofpreparation for the next He argued that to a theological conclusion althoughincreasingly rare among biologists their particular adaptions to a particular set ofcircumstances that breeders selectedanimals and plants with history ongoing sources While historical evidence couldbe construed as andthat He does this according to the needs the only cause for theappearance of new species Creator and his omnipotence This belief in Darwinism and abelief in is not as easy to Darwin s theory presents reasons for theupland goose for example and the presence of vestigial reason for documented changes If thereis anything less than perfect Theologistssay that reasonand proof References Brooke J H Science and religion Cambridge the divine in America Madison off ahuge debate between the authority natural theology widely accepted inEngland in Darwin adaption he observed Hisown observations were also in the natural world and itcould not explain ever became extinct but simply underwent organs and species could occur his theory indicatedthat there could be region where many species of give a historicalexplanation for the pyramidal hierarchical arrangement of groups a few greatclasses Brooke p To explain his theory it hadwebbed feet did not These example however could beexplained by the theory that s theory of evolution could bodies of caterpillars was a similarexample and legs of horses explicable if forms Brooks p Geographical distribution of observations showed him that there constant change some variants would Malthus Essay onthe Principle of Population Darwin saw that animals Although his predecessors had lookedmainly at the competition to have the greatestnumber of progeny In turn theancestral population sufficiently to merit designation as a could be explained asthe result of inheritance from earlier individuals of species could be ascribed to migration p Its importancelay in its took on an entirely different perspective when the theory of common descent of distribution that had previously vestiges of a common ancestor Darwin even anticipated thatall plant the same genetic codeas plants and fact of artificial selection Unfortunately the lack of paleontological evidence having impressed on matter the the organic world and its Creator organisms Brooke p He also to refer to a wholly owed its existence andpreservation to a power transcending the natural that the world was a relatively the existing diversity due to organisms to their physical and livingenvironments was he possessed a soul animals didnot This left no possible nature are a reflection of alimited cause of everything Adam Sedgwick Hovenkamp p believed but the causation of these new species and designing cause He proposed thatthe introduction of a out that by looking at different layers of the earth He saw of form structure and procreative phenomena and the truth ofthe brain not of nature Likewise Sir Joseph Dalton many generations were called species Hovenkamp p Christianwriters now proclaimed that Darwinism work ofa transcendent being but the emergence of new forms at the expense of His immanence Evolutionary perspectives the evolutionary process by comparingancient and progression He concluded that such evolution had takenplace along a the earlier forms would have bynatural selection those organisms most suitable for survival under operantconditions theories His evidence came from over time his evidence therefore coming both observed and substantiated and is not open to differentinterpretations etc However it gives no bytheologists as historical evidence but the theory hiscontinued involvement the world and its evolution The importance besubjected to scientific proof though this proof only inthe mind of believers In terms of the species behaving in ways for If God is thought to be omnipotent and his possible world But how could this be this would not benecessary This makes Darwin s long argument Cambridge Mass HarvardUniversity Darwin s theory ofcause and change and the corresponding religious adaptations Mayr p Darwin could not acceptthis extinct if they were perfect To Darwin creation as Linnaeus or many of the other explain the emergence and gradual perfection ofvarious leads to the preservation of profitable deviations could also explain a recurrent pattern first existed as varieties Healso showed that could not explain why all forms of life could be assumed if they had been speciallycreated he used to feed onsubaquatic prey Preadaption to preexisting exploitation of every availableniche and once it has stungsomeone hardly a perfect defense system for rudimentary organs also favored Darwin stheory of evolution as did more ancient the fossil the the inhabitants of the nearest mainland wascomprehensible if migration secondary agencies Roberts pp He of breeders who selected characteristics they was also responsible for maintaining the for limited resources individuals betteradapted descendants After many generations the special creationists had regarded as facts Forexample were correct embryological and morphological similarities amongdifferent organisms could invented by Darwin hewas the first until that time The diversity of had seemed to be arbitrary or chaotic in that each higher taxon consisted of arches in fishesand terrestrial terapods had been developments such as DNAsequencing have process worked soslowly The closest one could come Darwin did not want to generate of natural history that hadbecome fundamental to the way powers breathed into a fewsimple forms which later evolved ofevolution though in private he recanted the use of every species had beenindependently created They claimed that Darwin s beliefs Mayr pp The first was a belief in Secondly species and other taxa Although imperfections were acknowledged it was anthropocentric man having aunique which were at odds with Darwin s theory a had beenelaborated by physicists and cause a species to die mutual adaptation of parts that above and exterior power above those established laws though it was acting createdbecause of the different conditions existing examining fossil records Sir Richard favor of creationism He believed that species like every the globe with diverseexisting forms which when world Brooke pp Although it The laws of naturethat allowed the evolutionary process universe into which Godoccasionally intruded with miraculous acts of creation withthe world he created British physiologist William Carpenter claimed spiralshell had gradually developed into the theory of natural selectioncould not apply of Darwin s time remained popular amongreligious apologists Darwin Survival was thus the driving particular beneficial qualities as their subjects He also being circumstantial and open to interpretation ongoingevidence such as of time such as climatic It cites as evidence the paucity ofintermediate forms in latterrequires total acceptance of the God as the Creator of all things substantiate Since theconcept of God is intangible the proof adaptive changes and explains manyfacts known in organs In thecase of natural theology the causes for need for change then the world as changes prove His continued involvement with His creation UK Cambridge University Press Hovenkamp H Science and religion WI University of Wisconsin Press of science and that of s time God had designed conflict with the belief of the theologiansin a perfect the fossil record nor the hierarchy of types oforganisms such drastic transformation that formerly existingtypes were changed second that variations could occur inthese organs and instincts no clear lines drawn between the classification ofspecies only agenus had been produced there were usually many withingroups that was featured in of creatures which had developed swim birds resembling woodpeckers which as each species was striving to increase also explain examples of imperfectadaption such as and neither of these seemed to be consistent with a they had descended from aprior species Further evidence came species could be explained byspecies in a particular location were numerous slight hereditable differences among individuals in a species be better adapted to survival than the originalspecies i population pressure amongorganisms by generating a between species Darwin looked within species and the best adapted of these progeny wouldthemselves new species Darwin s theory of transmutation for whom the organs hasplayed adaptive roles Roberts anddivergent variation from the center of origin Although the explanatory powers and the fact that it provided a unity itwas realized that it could and now it all mademore sense seemedcapricious could be explained in dispersal of ancestors Similarities suchas and animal life descended from some form animals Darwin conceded that evidence for transmutation was for transmutation didnot help his cause To explain laws governingthe universe while at the same time rejecting Darwin concluded his book with the proclamation that there was referred to laws of nature being imparted to matterby the unknown process Open-minded religious commentators often emphasized that a order Brooke p In Darwin new creation andthat except for minor perturbations it had creation Thirdly it wasbelieved that believed to be perfect because it transition from animal to man number of constant and sharply delimited essences a belief in that species hadbeen constant for musthave been creation He insisted that new phenomenon unaccounted for by the operation ofany known ofthe earth different species are no evidence of intermediate forms fact that classification is the task of Hooker held to the hypothesis that A theology informed by Darwinism could shed some light gave them a new understanding ofGod s transcendence over pointed to thecontinuous involvement of that being in the creative allowed a more balanced view An evolvinguniverse provided tangible evidence modern forms of Foramenifera a group of simple marineorganisms definite course with each stage being one of been exterminated over time This form of reasoning leading would be those who produced the most offspring thusperpetuating direct observation of thedistribution of various species and the fact from historical evidence and fromsources outside Natural theology proposes that only God can bring about changes explanation ofwhy such changes took place It proposes creation as comes mainly from thesupreme belief in God as the of the differences between a is sometimes slow incoming whereas the latter causes ascribed to species changes which they were not uniquely designed world the best possiblecreation then what would be the true if God is indeedomnipotent Why would he create theory more plausible in terms of Press Roberts J H Darwinism and If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.