From Evolution Theory to a New Creation Theory
Transcript of From Evolution Theory to a New Creation Theory
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From Evolution Theory to a New CreationTheory -- Errors in Darwinism and a Proposal
from Unification Thought
Under the Supervision of Sang Hun Lee
I. The Path to the Contemporary Theory of Evolution
1. Aris tot le 's View of Nature and th e Christ ian Theory o f Creation
Species are eternal ly unc hangeable.
Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.), a philosopher of ancient Greece, was the first ever to create
systematic biology. He regarded nature as purposive, stating in The Physics,
If, then, artificial processes are purposeful, so are natural processes too; ... we find that
plants too produce organs subservient to their perfect development-leaves, for
instance, to shelter the fruit ... Hence, if it is by nature and also for a purpose ... that
plants make leaves for the sake of the fruit and strike down (and not up) with their
roots in order to get their nourishment, it is clear that causality of the kind we have
described is at work in things that come about or exist in the course of Nature.
(Aristotle, The Physics, 173 -75)
Aristotle considered that nature is ordered from the lower to the higher, ranging from
nonliving beings, to plants and animals, all the way to humans. For him, the order ofnature is the following; nonliving beings- lower plants-higher plants sponges, jellyfish
shellfish - insects -- crustacea cephalopoda -- ovipara - whales ovoviviparous
quadrupeds -- humankind. These are the "steps of nature," or the "hierarchy of nature"
(see Figure 1).
It is said that this classification of nature became the model for later thinking on
evolution. However, Aristotle regarded the classes of nature as unchangeable, just as,
for him, the universe was unchangeable; therefore, the idea of evolution of living
beings-that is, the idea that one species of living beings gradually changed into
another-did not come to his mind at all.
Eventually Aristotle's view of the universe and nature combined with Christianity.
The hierarchy of living beings was regarded as coming from God and as something
absolutely fixed. In the Christian view, God, when creating the universe, created every
living being "according to its kind," and all the species created by God were eternally
unchangeable from the very beginning of the universe. The combination of the
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Aristotelian view of nature with Christian theory ruled the Western world until the
modern period.
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Fig. 1: Aristotle's Steps of Nature
2. The Classi f icat ion of th e Liv ing B eings by L inne: God al lowed him to
look into the secret shelves of specimens.
The Swedish Carl von Linne (1707-1778), the founder of natural history, inherited thecombination of Aristotelian and Christian traditions and believed that the God-created
fundamental species of living beings were unchangeable. He said he was grateful that
God had allowed him to look into the secret shelves of specimens, and dedicated his
life to the task of describing and classifying all the species. He expressed the results of
his research in The System of Nature (1735), a small booklet which, over the period of
several decades, developed into a work consisting of several volumes.
Linne considered species to be a group of individuals with mutual resemblances, just
as children resemble their parents, and that there were as many species as God had
created in the beginning. He recognized, however, that even in a particular species ofplants some flowers had different colors, or had double flowering, and that slight
differences occurred depending on such conditions as climate, land, and nutrition; he
termed such species "varieties" (hybrids). Linne's view was that God has indeed
created all the species but, having done so, does not interfere with the details of
nature, and that varieties are formed through hybridization.
Linne roughly classified living beings into "classes," each class into "orders," each
order into "genera," and each genus into "species." He also established a "binomial
nomenclature," whereby each living being was given a double name, that is, its genus
and species. With further development in science, Linne's artificial classificationevolved into a natural classification.
3. Lamarck 's Theory of Evolut ion
Living beings develop from lower to higher stages.
In the seventeenth century, with the rise of the philosophy of the Enlightenment,
which emphasized the concept of progress, there arose the idea of the evolution of
living beings. In the eighteenth century, that idea expanded with inputs from the
French thinkers G. Comte de Buffon, P. M. de Maupertuis, and D. Diderot. A clearstatement of the theory of evolution of living beings was put forward when Jean
Baptiste de Lamarck (1744 -1829) published hisPhilosophy of Animals in 1809.
Lamarck explained, on the basis of facts, that living beings evolve from lower to
higher stages. For Lamarck, the life force inherent in living beings is the element that
brings about evolution; through that life force, living beings develop from simple to
complex, which brings about irregularity (variety) among them. Further, he said,
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living beings have the ability to give rise to organs in accordance with, and in
conformity to, environmental conditions. Thus he set forth two principles of
evolution, as follows (see Fig. 2)
i) Theory of Use and Disuse
In an animal that has not yet reached its final stage of development, the more
frequently and constantly an organ is used, the more it strengthens itself, develops,
increases in size, and gains power, in proportion to the period of its use. On the other
hand, if an organ is not used on a regular basis, it will treacherously weaken, decline,
decrease in function, and finally disappear.
ii) Theory of the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
Any character that an individual has acquired through preferential use or has lost
through continuous disuse of an organ due to the effect of circumstances to which theindividual has been exposed for a long time, will be transmitted through inheritance to
the new individuals born from it, provided the change is common to both male and
female.
The ancestors of giraffes had a short neck, but they had the habit of eating leaves high
up on the trees.
As they reached for high leaves their necks become longer.
The character of longer neck was passed on to their descendants, making a long-necked giraffe.
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Fig. 2: Explanation of the Long Neck of Giraffes Based on the Theory of Use and
Disuse
The above-mentioned assertion by Lamarck could be summarized as follows: Living
beings originally develop in a progressive manner from simple to complex; and by
doing so, they have become diversified as we see them today, according to the theoryof use and disuse and the theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
4. Darwin's Theory o f Natural Select ion
The struggle for existence in nature selects the species.
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Fig. 3: Location of the Galapagos Islands
The English natural historian Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who in his youth studied
in a theological seminary at Cambridge University, became interested in natural
history, and upon graduation, went on board of the British Navy's survey ship H.M.S.
Beagle. Darwin conducted intense observations on geological features, plants, andanimals and became convinced that living beings evolve. His observations at the
Galapagos Islands (see Fig. 3) are especially credited with providing him with clear
evidence for his views on evolution.
Darwin, who grappled with the issue of "species undergoing change," contrasted how
animals and plants would change in a situation where they were growing naturally and
in a situation where they were being raised by people. He examined the way plant
breeders did their work, and concluded that the key element lay in selection. Breeders
artificially selected species for several generations, saving those they considered
appropriate and discarding the one they considered inappropriate for their purpose.Darwin took notice of this "artificial selection."
In nature, however, there is no such a thing as a breeder engaging in selection-and that
was a problem for Darwin. But T. R. Malthus (1766 -1834) gave him a clue on how to
solve that problem. Malthus said that, if it were not for the influence of wars,
starvation, and disease, this world would now be overflowing with people; thus, he
described the reality of struggle in human society. This view suggested to Darwin the
idea that it is the "struggle for existence" that causes the selection of species in nature.
That idea developed into what later became Darwin's "theory of natural selection."
The points of that theory can be summarized as follows (see Fig 4)
i) There are individual variations among living beings; even among siblings born of
the same parents, there are some variations.
ii) Individuals transmit their variations to their descendants.
iii) The number of living beings increases in geometric progression; the supply of
food and shelter is limited; therefore, there occurs a struggle for existence between
individuals of the same species.
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Fig. 4: Explanation of Why Giraffes have Long Necks, according to the Theory of
Natural Selection
iv) As a result of struggle for existence, "natural selection" is at work in nature,
allowing to survive only those individuals that are suitably adapted to the environment
This is called "survival of the fittest."
Darwin disclosed the results of his research in On The Origin of Species,published in
1859. His basic position was that, it is not some kind of "inherent ability" in living
beings that allows them to evolve, as Lamarck had said; but rather, it is the natural
environment itself that causes them to evolve. As a result, there was no room at all left
for any kind of involvement on the part of God in the development of living beings.
Darwin's idea was that, since natural selection works gradually, through a slow
accumulation of profitable variations, there is never a huge leap in the evolutionary
process of living beings, but rather, living beings evolve slowly and gradually. Thatidea was in keeping with the old saying that "natura non facit saltum" ("Nature does
not do leaps").
As a supplement to his theory of natural selection, Darwin also included "sexual
selection," whereby those characteristics that are charming to the opposite sex are
selected and preserved. Manes in lions, horns in deer, beautiful feathers in birds were
cited as examples of the working of sexual selection.
On the other hand, Darwin accepted Lamarck's view that living beings adapt
themselves to changes in the environment, and in doing so, change themselves.Considering that profitable variations in individuals that have survived by natural
selection were hereditary, Darwin also accepted what Lamarck called "inheritance of
acquired characteristics."
Later, the German biologist August Weismann (1834-1914) published the results of
an experiment in which he consistently cut the tails of mice one generation after
another, for 22 generations. He observed that the offspring of those mice were not at
all born with shortened tails. Based on that, he totally denied Lamarck's "inheritance
of acquired characteristics" and advocated, instead, evolution based only on natural
selection alone. His position came to be known as "Neo-Darwinism."
5. Mendel 's Discov ery of the Laws o f Heredity
His experimentation with peas eventually gave rise to genetics.
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Darwin established the idea of the evolution of living beings; but, with regard to such
issues as how the characteristic features of living beings are transmitted from parents
to descendants and how a change in a living being occurs, he did not have very clear
ideas. However, while Darwin was writing On The Origin of Species, a monk named
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was experimenting with plant crossings in his
monastery in Austria, in search of the laws of heredity.
Mendel's experiment consisted in crossing various kinds of peas. After gathering
results for eight years, he established three basic laws of heredity, namely, the "law of
dominance," the "law of segregation," and the "law of independence" (see Fig. 5).
i) The Law of Dominance
Mendel first crossed wrinkled peas with round peas. The peas grew, and when he
opened the shells of the crossed peas, he found only round peas, neatly lined up side
by side; there were no wrinkled peas. Thus, in the first generation of crossing, one ofthe characters became dominant (the round peas), and the other became recessive (the
wrinkled peas) -and only the dominant character appeared. In this way, he discovered
that, among opposing characters, only the dominant one will appear in the first
generation of crossing. This is the law of dominance.
ii) The Law of Segregation
Next, through self-pollination of the first generation of the crosses, the second
generation of the crosses was made. When the shells were opened, both round and
wrinkled peas were found. When they were counted, the ratio was three round ones toone wrinkled.
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Fig. 5: Mendel's Laws of Heredity
If we express the dominant character as A and the recessive character as a, then the
only combination made in the first generation of the cross is Aa; but in the second
generation (the result of combining Aa with Aa), there are three combinations,
namely, AA, Aa, and aa, in the ratio of 1: 2: 1. But since A is dominant in Aa, theratio between A and a turns out to be 3 to 1. This is the law of segregation.
iii) The Law of Independence
In crossing, when two or more pairs of opposing characters are involved (for example,
round or wrinkled shape, and green or yellow color in peas), each pair of the opposing
characters behaves and is transmitted independently. That is the law of independence.
Mendel quickly comprehended the meaning of those results. He considered that the
factor responsible for the manifestation of a character is inherent in the body of aliving being; he called it an "element." Mendel's discovery of the laws of heredity
gave rise to the science of genetics, and Darwin's theory of evolution came to be
explained in combination with genetics.
6. De Vries' Mutat ion Theory: New species have appeared sudd enly.
The Dutch botanist Hugo De Vries (1843-1935) asked the following question: If
natural selection is concerned only with small individual variations, then why is there
such big differences between one species and another ?
One day, while observing evening primroses in the suburbs of Amsterdam, De Vries
noticed a few oddly shaped hybrids mixed among them. He brought them to his
university, grew them, and for eight years he observed them. He found that some of
them came to blossom normal flowers, while others never lost the characters of
hybrids, even after many generations. Thus, De Vries considered that a new variation
appears all at once without passing through intermediate stages and attains stability
right away; it is hereditary. He named it "mutation" (mutation theory, 1901).
De Vries considered the evolution of living beings as follows: A new species is
formed, not gradually under the effect of natural selection, but suddenly throughhereditary change.
With regard to new plant hybrids, De Vries noticed that not everything in their shape
was changed, as many biologists had expected. Not all was changed, but only one or a
few points. Thus he considered that "the characters of living beings consist of clearly
distinguishable, independent units." In 1900, De Vries became acquainted with
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Mendel's work and learned that not he but Mendel had discovered the secrets of
heredity.
About the same time, Wilhelm Johannsen (1857-1927), a Danish botanist, advocated
the theory of "pure line" (1903), clarifying that individual variations (i.e., continual,
small variations among the individuals of the same species), which Darwin consideredto be the cause of evolution, are "fluctuations" (i.e., normal, nonheredity variations
that arises through the influence of the environment and habit), and are not hereditary.
That raised a difficult problem for Darwin's theory of natural selection, which De
Vries' mutation theory later solved.
De Vries mutation theory gained the support of many biologists. Later, however,
disagreements began to occur between those who supported De Vries' position
(mutation theory) and those who supported Darwin's position (evolution through
natural selection working on minute, consecutive variations).
7. The Discov ery of DNA: The Remarkable molecule of heredity
The element that Mendel and De Vries considered to be inherent within the body of a
living being and responsible for the manifestation of its characters was named "gene"
by Johannsen.
The American Zoologist Thomas Morgan (1866-1945) conducted research on fruit
flies on the basis of Mendel's laws of heredity and De Vries' theory of mutation.
Morgan established the "gene theory" (1926), or the view that the characters of an
individual are transmitted through arrangements of genes within a cell'schromosomes.
In 1953, the American molecular biologist James Watson (1928- ) and the English
physicist Francis Crick (1916- ) clarified that the gene is a molecule of a double helix
structure, called DNA. DNA consists of two twisted threads, each made of sugar and
phosphoric acid alternately combined, which are mutually bridged by pairs of bases at
their parts of sugar. The bases are classified into four kinds: adenine (A), thymine (T),
guanine (G) and cytosine (C). Yet, always paired are adenine and thymine, and
guanine and cytosine (see Fig. 6).
DNA is indeed the genetic matter directly responsible for heredity in living beings.
After the discovery of DNA, issues concerning evolution came to be discussed in
relation to DNA.
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Fig. 6: The Double Helix of DNA
8. The Emergence of th e Synthetic Theory
Darwin + De Vries = Synthetic Theory
As a result of research on the mutation of fruit flies conducted by Morgan and his
group, it became clear that mutation through genetic change does not necessarily
bring about a great leap, or a radical change (see Fig. 7). Therefore, mutation theory
and Darwin's theory of natural selection came be seen as not mutually incompatible.
The English statistician Ronald A. Fisher (1890-1962), the British geneticist John B.
S. Haldane (1892-1964), and the American geneticist Seawell Wright (1889-1988)
analyzed genetic problems by using mathematical models. As a result, they claimed to
have found that mutation is not the primary cause of evolution and that the direction
and speed of evolution is determined almost completely by natural selection.
Accordingly, a new way of explaining evolution appeared, which combined Darwin's
theory of natural selection with De Vries' theory of mutation. The new theory was
called "synthetic theory," which is also called "Neo-Darwinism," as was the position
of Weismann. But today, the term "New-Darwinism" is used almost exclusively to
refer to synthetic theory; "NeoDarwinism" and "synthetic theory" have become
virtually synonymous.
Representatives of synthetic theory are the British biologist Julian Huxley (1887-
1975), the Russian-born American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975),the German-born American animal taxonomist Ernst Mayr, and the American
paleontologist George Simpson (1902- ). According to Huxley, who is regarded as the
godfather of synthetic theory, evolution can be summarized as follows (Huxley 1963,
44)
i) Mutation provides the raw material for evolution.
ii) Natural selection determines the direction of evolution.
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Fig. 7: An Experiment with Mutation in Fruit Flies
Huxley asserted that mutation proceeds in all directions, accidentally and at random,
and merely provides the raw material for evolution. Most mutations are harmful to
living beings, but a very small number of living beings with an advantageous mutation
survive in the struggle for existence, that is, they are selected by nature. As a result,mutations favorable to living beings develop gradually.
Today it is an established theory that the cause of mutation is disorder in the
arrangement of the bases of DNA. The French molecular biologist Jacque Monod
(1910-1976) suggested the following as the causes of mutation (Monod 1971, 112)
i) The substitution of a single pair of nucleotides for another pair; of nucleotides for
another pair (A nucleotide is a unit that composes DNA and consists of base, sugar
and phosphoric acid (see fig. 6); a pair of nucleotides is a rung in the ladder of a
double helix structure.)
ii) The deletion or addition of one or several pairs of nucleotides; and
iii) Various kinds of "scrambling" of the genetic text by inversion, duplication,
displacement, or fusion of more or less extended segments.
The path of evolution theory culminating with the establishment of synthetic theory of
the contemporary period can be summarized as in Fig. 8.
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Fig. 8: Summary of the Contemporary Theory of Evolution
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