Posted by Small Town Evangelist on November 14, 1998 at 13:40:06:
In Reply to: evolution posted by Derrick Hassert on September 03, 1998 at 15:36:56:
: It seems as though very few biologists have taken any courses dealing with the philosophy of science. Science never claims ultimate truths; science offers theories which account for a body of facts. Neo-Darwinists should refrain from attacking those who inquire as to how life emerged from random couplings of matter (which is the implication of random natural selection), how random natural selection can be mathematically verified in accordance with the fossil record (the biomathematicians at the Wistar Institute tried it in the late 60s; it couldn't be done), or how the same genes (such as the Pax-6 gene for the eye) can produce completely different phenotypes. Evolution does happen, but does random mutation explain it all? Do we know all the biochemical mechanisms of the gene? Is gradualism really the rule, or is punctuated equilibrium a fluke of the fossil record?