Introduction
In this lecture I shall be examining the roots, or origin, of Evolution. I have come to the conclusion after many years of investigation, that Evolution is not science but, as Sir Karl Popper once said, a "metaphysical research program."1
Professor James A. Shapiro, the celebrated bacteriologist from the University of Chicago, states:
"For those scientists who take it seriously, Darwinian evolution (i.e. Evolution) has functioned more as a philosophical belief than as a testable scientific hypothesis. This quasi-religious function of the theory is, I think, what lies behind many of the extreme statements that you have doubtless encountered from some scientists opposing any criticism of neo-Darwinism in the classroom. It is also why many scientists make public statements about the theory that they would not defend privately to other scientists like me."2
Before we proceed with this lecture, we need to be clear about our definition of Evolution, so as to avoid confusion. We are not challenging the scientific principles of Natural Selection and Adaptation, but rather the theory of Evolution itself (i.e. the common descent of all forms of life from a single cell). The Oxford English Dictionary defines Evolution as: "The origination of living things by development from earlier forms, not by special creation." Thus we are dealing with the belief that this Universe came about by itself through a long process of transformations from simpler forms, such as amoeba, to more complex forms, such as human beings.
In this article we will discover that this philosophy had its roots in pagan pantheistic evolution, which branched out later into naturalistic evolution, which is the form we more readily recognize today.
Notes
- Popper, Karl, Unended Quest, 1976 and 1992, p. 198 - 199
- From an open letter to the Kansas State Board of Education from Professor Philip S. Skell, Member, National Academy of Sciences, Evan Pugh Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Penn State University, May 12th, 2005, to Dr. Steve E. Abrams, Chair of Kansas State Dept. of Education (http://www.bostonreview.net/br22.1/shapiro.html)