4 Darwinism Alternatives Flashcards
Model for explaining the history and diversity of life
Darwinian Theory
- Organisms living
today are different
from those that
lived in the past.
- Organisms change
over time. - All organisms branch from a
common ancestor.
- Any pair of organisms has a
common ancestor
- Similar organisms are similar
because they share traits with
their common ancestor - Change is gradual and slow,
taking place over a long time.
- Supported by the fossil record
- No naturalist has observed the
sudden appearance of a new
species
- The main mechanism of
evolutionary change
is natural selection
- Undirected or random
processes favour certain
heritable characters
Darwin’s Theory
Two models of interpreting evolutionary patterns:
- Populations evolve differences gradually as they
become adapted to their local environments - Presence of transition forms in the fossil record
Gradualist model
Two models of interpreting evolutionary patterns:
- Populations that undergo long periods of equilibrium where little
change takes place, punctuated by short periods of rapid change - May account for the lack of transitional stages in fossil records
Punctuated equilibrium model
The recipe of life is…
Raw materials + suitable environment + energy sources
The possible composition of earth’s early atmosphere…
H2O vapor and compounds released from volcanic eruptions, including N2 and its oxides, CO2, CH4, NH3, H2 and H2S
primitive Earth favoured chemical reactions that synthesized organic compounds from inorganic precursors. “prebiotic soup”
A. Oparin’s and J. B. S. Haldane’s
hypothesis
________ were able to
form simple amino acids from
their laboratory setup
S. Miller & H. Urey
__________ produced no amino acids using correct compounds. All other attempts have failed.
J. P. Ferris and C. T. Chen
The __________ is defined by major transitions in life on Earth.
geologic record
The _________ the main events in the history of life
Fossil Record Documents
a group of organisms forms new
species, whose adaptations allow them to fill new habitats or roles in their communities
Adaptive radiation
A rebound in diversity follows ___________ as survivors become adapted to vacant ecological niches
mass extinctions
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- accept Genesis literally, including not just the special, separate creation of human beings and all other species, but the historicity of Noah’s Flood
- do not interpret the flat-earth and
geocentric passages of the Bible
literally, but they reject modern physics, chemistry, and geology concerning the age of the earth.
Young Earth Creationists
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- each of the six days of creation is not a
24-h day but a long period of time, even
thousands or millions of years - found comfort in what they regard as a
rough parallel between organic evolution
and Genesis, in which plants appear
before animals and human beings
appear last
Day-Age Theorists
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- God created kinds of animals
that were of a higher
taxonomic level than species - God created creatures
containing at least as much
genetic variation as a family
(e.g. Felidae,
Cercopithecidae) and
considerable evolution
within a kind then occurred
Progressive Creationists
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- certain features of the universe and
of living things are best explained by
an intelligent cause, not an
undirected process such as natural
selection - argue that an archaeologist who
finds a statue made of stone in a
field may justifiably conclude that
the statue was designed, and
reasonably seek to identify its
designer
Intelligent Design Proponents
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- God created but relied more upon
the laws of nature to bring about His
purpose - one species can give rise to another
- see God as intervening at critical
intervals during the history of life
especially in the origin of human
beings
Theistic Evolutionists
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- go beyond science and propose
that the laws of nature are not
only sufficient to explain all of
nature and evolution but that the
supernatural does not exist - philosophical materialism (naturalism)
there is nothing in the
universe beyond matter, energy,
and their interactions
Material Evolutionists
– addresses questions about natural world (empirical, material)
- does not address questions beyond the natural world
- these questions are left to religion and ethics
Science
– an idea to be tested
- can be supported but cannot be “proven”
- testable (falsifiable) hypothesis – material evidence could disagree
Hypothesis
hypothesis that’s been supported over and over again
Theory
“natural” not equal to?
good, right, just, moral.
