JRR Tolkien No Sex Please We Are Hobbits

ARTHUR CAPLAN TESTABILITY, DISREPUTABILITY, AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE MODERN SYNTHETIC THEORY OF EVOLUTION Philosophers and scientists often voice the complaint that despite the apparent comprehensiveness and theoretical ornateness of modem-day evolutionary theory, the theory is somehow less reputable than the theories used in the physical, chemical, and social sciences. This avowed distaste for the modem synthetic theory can take the forms of a stronger and a weaker thesis. The stronger claim, which might be labelled the contemptibility thesis, maintains that evolutionary theory is worthless since it amounts to no more than a simplistic tautology to the effect that those organisms that survive are fit, and, those that are fit, survive. Given the relative immunity Of tautological propositions from refutation or test by empirical facts, proponents of the contemptibility thesis would claim that tautologies are hardly the stuff of which useful scientific theories are made.1 The weaker thesis concerning the dissatisfaction many commentators feel in confronting contemporary evolutionary accounts might be labelled the disreputability thesis. This view does not deny that contemporary evolutionary theory is non-tautologous in character, but, evolutionary theory seems more prone than most theories to a number of serious defects and ailments. 2 Firstly, evolutionary theorizing is rarely sullied by any specific predic- tions or retrodictions concerning organic events at any level of biological organization. Secondly, the theory seems to possess a disquieting amount of elasticity or flexibility with regard to explaining organic phenomena. Anything and everything in the empirical biological world seems to be compatible with evolutionary explanations. Refuting evidence or crucial experiments that could realistically jeopardize an evolutionary account seem extremely few and far between. Thirdly, evolutionary theorists seem willing to assume and postulate Erkenntnis 13 (1978) 261-278. All Rights Reserved Copyright ~ 1978 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

JRR Tolkien No Sex Please We Are Hobbits

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