Darwinism

Overview

Darwinism is a philosophical position which holds that the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection (EbNS), which was first published by Charles Darwin in his book The Origin of Species in 1859, is scientifically "true" – i.e. that it is the explanation of species origins which best fits all the available evidence. Generally, those who agree with the Darwinian position hold that it is not only the best explanation but by far the best explanation, with no other explanation even coming close (excepting minor variations of EbNS itself).

Those who hold this position generally do not describe themselves as "Darwinists"; the term was invented as an attack on the theory of evolution by natural selection. The term is intended to make it seem (at least, to an uninformed audience) that this position – which is based on mountains of scientific evidence and has been ruthlessly scrutinized for over a century – with a term that makes it seem like just another ideology (or "-ism").

Correspondingly, those who attack EbNS – by working to prevent schools from teaching it (or at least working to require that their own pseudo-theories should be taught as equally valid), and generally undermining its credibility – by intellectually dishonest means (and frequently just flat-out lying) are probably best described as anti-Darwinists; they are not attacking the EbNS theory on rational grounds, in a way which might lead to revelation of genuine flaws in the theory, but rather merely as another religion to be beaten into submission by any means necessary.

Support

The Darwinian position (i.e. that EbNS is most likely true) is overwhelmingly embraced by the scientific community. It is relentlessly consistent with massive amounts of data collected across multiple scientific disciplines, including anthropology, biology, geology, medicine, and psychology. need to collect more on this

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." – Daniel Dennett

Opposition

See anti-Darwinism.

Related Terms

The ideas behind Darwinism are often confused with other seemingly-similar concepts:

Links

Reference

Wikipedia
- Survival of the fittest
Conservapedia: redirects to Evolutionism as of 2007-09-01
- separate article from Evolution
~~dKosopedia~~ no article (as of 2007-09-01)
~~SourceWatch~~ no article (as of 2008-05-18); see search

Editorials / Opinion

2006-02-28 Eugenics doesn't work... (2007-09-01 dead link?) Google cache

Projects

The Journal of Evolutionary Philosophy: "Dedicated to promoting the theory of evolution as a solid foundation upon which to build a meaningful philosophy of human life" (thus helping to counter the religionist claim that there can be no meaning to life without God/religion)

Filed Links

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