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1.
Barbara Forrest 《Evolution》2010,3(2):170-182
The intelligent design (ID) creationist movement is now a quarter of a century old. ID proponents at the Discovery Institute,
headquartered in Seattle, WA, USA, insist that ID is not creationism. However, it is the direct descendant of the creation
science movement that began in the 1960s and continued until the definitive ruling against creationism by the US Supreme Court
in Edwards v. Aguillard
1987, which struck down laws that required balancing the teaching of evolution with creationism in public schools. Already anticipating
in the early 1980s that Arkansas and Louisiana “balanced treatment” laws would be declared unconstitutional, a group of creationists
led by Charles Thaxton began laying the groundwork for what is now the ID movement. After Edwards, Thaxton and his associates promoted ID aggressively until it, too, was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District 2005. Subsequently, in 2008, the Discovery Institute began its multistate promotion of model “academic freedom” legislation
that bears striking parallels to the 1980s balanced treatment laws. Because of Kitzmiller, ID proponents have written their model legislation in code language in an effort to avoid another court challenge. Yet despite
attempting to evade the legal constraints imposed by Edwards, they are merely recycling earlier creationist tactics that date back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. The tactics that
ID creationists now use—promoting legislation, publishing “educational” materials, establishing a “research” institute, and
sanitizing their terminology—are the recycled tactics of their creation science predecessors. 相似文献
2.
Nathalie Gontier 《Evolution》2011,4(3):515-538
It is a popularly held view that Darwin was the first author to draw a phylogenetic tree diagram. However, as is the case
with most popular beliefs, this one also does not hold true. Firstly, Darwin never called his diagram of common descent a
tree. Secondly, even before Darwin, tree diagrams were used by a variety of philosophical, religious, and secular scholars
to depict phenomena such as “logical relationships,” “affiliations,” “genealogical descent,” “affinity,” and “historical relatedness”
between the elements portrayed on the tree. Moreover, historically, tree diagrams themselves can be grouped into a larger
class of diagrams that were drawn to depict natural and/or divine order in the world. In this paper, we trace the historical
roots and cultural meanings of these tree diagrams. It will be demonstrated that tree diagrams as we know them are the outgrowth
of ancient philosophical attempts to find the “true order” of the world, and to map the world “as it is” (ontologically),
according to its true essence. This philosophical idea would begin a fascinating journey throughout Western European history.
It lies at the foundation of the famous “scala naturae,” as well as religious and secular genealogical thinking, especially
in regard to divine, familial (kinship), and linguistic pedigrees that were often depicted by tree images. These scala naturae
would fuse with genealogical, pedigree thinking, and the trees that were the result of this blend would, from the nineteenth
century onward, also include the element of time. The recognition of time would eventually lead to the recognition of evolution
as a fact of nature, and subsequently, tree iconographies would come to represent exclusively the evolutionary descent of
species. 相似文献
3.
Richard Bellon 《Journal of the history of biology》2006,39(1):1-39
Joseph Hooker first learned that Charles Darwin believed in the transmutation of species in 1844. For the next 14 years, Hooker
remained a “nonconsenter” to Darwin’s views, resolving to keep the question of species origin “subservient to Botany instead
of Botany to it, as must be the true relation”. Hooker placed particular emphasis on the need for any theory of species origin
to support the broad taxonomic delimitation of species, a highly contentious issue. His always provisional support for special
creation waned during the 1850s as he lost faith in its expediency for coordinating the study of plant geography, systematics
and physiology. In 1858, Hooker embraced Darwin’s “considerable revolution in natural history,” but only after Darwin had
carefully molded his transmutationism to meet Hooker’s exacting specifications. 相似文献
4.
Ron Amundson 《Biology & philosophy》1998,13(2):153-177
Recent historiography of 19th century biology supports the revision of two traditional doctrines about the history of biology. First, the most important and widespread biological debate around the time of Darwin was not evolution versus creation, but biological functionalism versus structuralism. Second, the idealist and typological structuralist theories of the time were not particularly anti-evolutionary. Typological theories provided argumentation and evidence that was crucial to the refutation of Natural Theological creationism. The contrast between functionalist and structuralist approaches to biology continues today, and the historical misunderstanding of 19th century typological biology may be one of its effects. This historical case can shed light on current controversies regarding the relevance of developmental biology to evolution. 相似文献
5.
Eugenie C. Scott 《Evolution》2010,3(2):241-244
The author reflects on how much she has learned about teaching from K-12 teachers, and about the difficulties teachers encounter
when they teach about evolution. Misconceptions and preconceptions, especially those concerning the compatibility or incompatibility
of evolution with religion, are difficult to overcome, but teachers have devised many ingenious approaches to “defuse the
religion issue.” The easy way out for many teachers is to omit evolution, or compromise its teaching by either including creationism
or denigrating evolution, but the many teachers who teach with integrity are inspiring to us all. 相似文献
6.
The growing visibility of various forms of creationism in Northern Ireland raises issues for science education. Attempts have
been made at political levels to have such “alternatives” to evolution taught in the science classroom, and the issue has
received coverage in local press and media. A sample of 112 pre-service science teachers answered a survey on attitudes toward
evolution. Preliminary analysis revealed many of these new teachers held views contrary to scientific consensus—over one fifth
doubt the evidence for human evolution, and over one quarter dispute the common ancestry of life. Over two thirds indicated
a preference for teaching a “range of theories” regarding these issues in science. In addition, 49 pre-service biology teachers
viewed a DVD resource promoting “intelligent design” and completed an evaluation of it. The biology teachers also took part
in either focus groups or additional questionnaires. A majority took the resource at face value and made positive comments
regarding its utility. Many articulated views contrary to the stated positions of science academies, professional associations,
and the UK government teaching directives regarding creationism. Most indicated a perception that intelligent design is legitimate
science and that there is a scientific “controversy” regarding the legitimacy of evolution. Concern is raised over the ability
of these new teachers to distinguish between scientific and non-scientific theories. The suggestion is made that the issue
should be addressed directly with pre-service science teachers to make clear the status of such “alternatives.” The paper
raises implications for science education and questions for further research.
相似文献
Conor McCroryEmail: |
7.
Lloyd T. AckertJr. 《Journal of the history of biology》2007,40(1):109-145
Historians of science have attributed the emergence of ecology as a discipline in the late nineteenth century to the synthesis
of Humboldtian botanical geography and Darwinian evolution. In this essay, I begin to explore another, largely neglected but
very important dimension of this history. Using Sergei Vinogradskii’s career and scientific research trajectory as a point
of entry, I illustrate the manner in which microbiologists, chemists, botanists, and plant physiologists inscribed the concept
of a “cycle of life” into their investigations. Their research transformed a longstanding notion into the fundamental approaches
and concepts that underlay the new ecological disciplines that emerged in the 1920s. Pasteur thus joins Humboldt as a foundational
figure in ecological thinking, and the broader picture that emerges of the history of ecology explains some otherwise puzzling
features of that discipline – such as its fusion of experimental and natural historical methodologies. Vinogradskii’s personal
“cycle of life” is also interesting as an example of the interplay between Russian and Western European scientific networks
and intellectual traditions. Trained in Russia to investigate nature as a super-organism comprised of circulating energy,
matter, and life; over the course of five decades – in contact with scientists and scientific discourses in France, Germany,
and Switzerland – he developed a series of research methods that translated the concept of a “cycle of life” into an ecologically
conceived soil science and microbiology in the 1920s and 1930s. These methods, bolstered by his authority as a founding father
of microbiology, captured the attention of an international network of scientists. Vinogradskii’s conceptualization of the
“cycle of life” as chemosynthesis, autotrophy, and global nutrient cycles attracted the attention of ecosystem ecologists;
and his methods appealed to practitioners at agricultural experiment stations and microbiological institutes in the United
States, Western Europe, and the Soviet Union. 相似文献
8.
Bartosz Borczyk 《Evolution》2010,3(4):614-620
For many years, the creationist movement in Poland was so marginal that the term “creationism” and its foundations were largely
unknown within society. Nevertheless, at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, the country underwent rapid political,
economic, and sociological transformation. As part of the reaction, many ideas previously censored by the Communist regime
became fashionable. This was also partly true for the creationist movement. However, creationism did not gain high acceptance
within society, partly because Poland is predominantly a Catholic country, and Catholic doctrine does not support literal
understanding of the Bible. At the moment, Intelligent Design creationists are emerging in Poland, and numerous creationist
organizations are increasing their activity. This goes together with the weakening of evolutionary teaching in Polish schools. 相似文献
9.
10.
Louise S. Mead 《Evolution》2009,2(2):310-314
A common misconception of evolutionary biology is that it involves a search for “missing links” in the history of life. Relying
on this misconception, antievolutionists present the supposed absence of transitional forms from the fossil record as evidence
against evolution. Students of biology need to understand that evolution is a branching process, paleontologists do not expect
to find “missing links,” and evolutionary research uses independent lines of evidence to test hypotheses and make conclusions
about the history of life. Teachers can facilitate such learning by incorporating cladistics and tree-thinking into the curriculum
and using evograms to focus on important evolutionary transitions. 相似文献
11.
In “Spandrels,” Gould and Lewontin criticized what they took to be an all-too-common conviction, namely, that adaptation to
current environments determines organic form. They stressed instead the importance of history. In this paper, we elaborate upon their concerns by appealing to other writings in which those issues are treated in greater
detail. Gould and Lewontin’s combined emphasis on history was three-fold. First, evolution by natural selection does not start
from scratch, but always refashions preexisting forms. Second, preexisting forms are refashioned by the selection of whatever
mutational variations happen to arise: the historical order of mutations needs to be taken into account. Third, the order
of environments and selection pressures also needs to be taken into account. 相似文献
12.
Nicolas Robin 《Journal of the history of biology》2011,44(2):283-304
This paper demonstrates the importance of the reception and development of Goethe’s metamorphosis of plants as a methodological
and philosophical framework in the history of botanical theories. It proposes a focus on the textbooks written by the German
botanist Ludwig Reichenbach and his first attempt to use Goethe’s idea of metamorphosis of plants as fundamental to his natural
system of plants published under the title ‘Botany for Women’, in German Botanik für Damen (1828). In this book, Reichenbach paid particular attention to Goethe’s sensitive views on the essence of nature; he regarded Goethe’s
idea of metamorphosis in the plant kingdom as an ideal model to interpret connections of natural phenomena, in particular
as a conceptual frame for a natural system. Furthermore, he aimed to develop the philosophical statement of the metamorphosis,
in which he called for nature-philosophical conceptions in order to materialize his representation of plant “affinities,”
and of a kind of “ontogeny” of the whole plant kingdom. This paper demonstrates that, between speculative views and empirical
attempts, the extent to which Reichenbach actually belonged to a new “school” of thought, which left its mark on the history
and philosophy of botany. 相似文献
13.
Patrik Krebs Gianni B. Pezzatti Stefano Mazzoleni Lee M. Talbot Marco Conedera 《Theorie in den Biowissenschaften》2010,129(1):53-69
“Fire regime” has become, in recent decades, a key concept in many scientific domains. In spite of its wide spread use, the
concept still lacks a clear and wide established definition. Many believe that it was first discussed in a famous report on
national park management in the United States, and that it may be simply defined as a selection of a few measurable parameters
that summarize the fire occurrence patterns in an area. This view has been uncritically perpetuated in the scientific community
in the last decades. In this paper we attempt a historical reconstruction of the origin, the evolution and the current meaning
of “fire regime” as a concept. Its roots go back to the 19th century in France and to the first half of the 20th century in
French African colonies. The “fire regime” concept took time to evolve and pass from French into English usage and thus to
the whole scientific community. This coincided with a paradigm shift in the early 1960s in the United States, where a favourable
cultural, social and scientific climate led to the natural role of fires as a major disturbance in ecosystem dynamics becoming
fully acknowledged. Today the concept of “fire regime” refers to a collection of several fire-related parameters that may
be organized, assembled and used in different ways according to the needs of the users. A structure for the most relevant
categories of parameters is proposed, aiming to contribute to a unified concept of “fire regime” that can reconcile the physical
nature of fire with the socio-ecological context within which it occurs. 相似文献
14.
What we consider “nature” is always historical and relational, shaped in contingent configurations of representational and
social practices. In the early twentieth century, the English ecologist A.G. Tansley lamented the pervasive problem of international
misunderstandings concerning the nature of “nature.” In order to create some consensus on the concepts and language of ecological
plant geography, Tansley founded the International Phytogeographical Excursion, which brought together leading plant geographers
and botanists from North America and Europe. The first IPE in August 1911 started with the Norfolk Broads. It was led by Marietta
Pallis, Tansley’s former student at Cambridge. This trip and the work of Pallis, neglected in other accounts of this early
period of the history of ecology, influenced the relations between Tansley and important American ecologists H.C. Cowles and
F.E. Clements. Understanding “place” as a network of relations, our regional focus shows how taking international dialogue,
travel and interchange into account enriches understanding of ecological practice. 相似文献
15.
Derick A. Fay 《Human ecology: an interdisciplinary journal》2012,40(1):59-68
In the early 1980s residents of Hobeni, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, were subjected to forced resettlement, under “betterment”
policy ostensibly aimed at soil conservation. They were moved into a spatially contiguous but socially differentiated village.
South Africa’s political transition ended this policy, and in the early 1990s, some people, mainly from part of the resettlement
area (Kunene) characterized by dense kinship networks who had faced pressure to leave, and began to return voluntarily to
their former sites, opting to live in dispersed, flexible settlements. Few people resettled in Mhlanganisweni, a part of the
village more diverse in its social composition, returned to their former sites. This research highlights the ways exclusion
within “socially-embedded” land tenure systems, together with the layout of resettlement areas and other forms of social and
economic differentiation, caused patterns of resettlement to diverge from planners’ intentions. 相似文献
16.
Adam R. Shapiro 《Journal of the history of biology》2008,41(3):409-433
In discussing the origins of the antievolution movement in American high schools within the framework of science and religion,
much is overlooked about the influence of educational trends in shaping this phenomenon. This was especially true in the years
before the 1925 Scopes trial, the beginnings of the school antievolution movement. There was no sudden realization in the
1920’s – sixty years after the Origin of Species was published – that Darwinism conflicted with the Bible, but until evolution was being taught in the high schools, there
was no impetus to outlaw it. The creation of “civic biology” curricula in the late 1910’s and early 20’s, spearheaded by a
close-knit community of textbook authors, brought evolution into the high school classroom as part of a complete reshaping
of “biology” as a school subject. It also incorporated progressive ideologies about the purposes of compulsory public education
in shaping society, and civic biology was fundamentally focused on the applications of the life sciences to human life. Antievolution
legislation was part of a broader response to the ideologies of the new biology field, and was a reaction not only to the
content of the new subject, but to the increasingly centralized control and regulation of education. Viewing the early school
antievolution movement through the science-religion conflict is an artifact of the Scopes trial’s re-creation of its origins.
What largely caused support for␣the school antievolution movement in the South and particularly Tennessee were concerns over
public education, which biology came to epitomize. 相似文献
17.
William E. H. Harcourt-Smith 《Evolution》2012,5(1):4-8
The American Museum of Natural History in New York has a rich history of explaining evolution through its displays and educational
programs. For much of this history, there has been a permanent hall dedicated to human evolution and its related disciplines.
Different versions of these halls have informed tens of millions of visitors, and today’s offering is one of the world’s newest,
opened in 2007 and named the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins. The hall’s design is radical in that it starts
by giving molecular genetics and the fossil record equal billing and thus provides the visitor with two independent but highly
complementary lines of evidence for our own evolution. Other parts of the hall are innovative in that they stress taxonomic
diversity in the fossil record as much as the more traditional chronological “story” of human evolution that is usually found
in museum exhibits. The hall is also unique in that it incorporates a fully operational teaching laboratory within its architectural
footprint, which provides educators with the chance to seamlessly integrate hands-on lab sessions and the surrounding exhibits
as teaching aids. 相似文献
18.
Sinéad Collins 《Evolutionary biology》2011,38(1):3-14
Experimental microbial evolution has focused on the particular ecological scenario where a population is placed suddenly in
an environment where its fitness is low, and then adapts while the environment remains stable. In line with this, most microbial
evolution studies use fitness measures that report how evolved genotypes fare when competed directly against their own distant
ancestor while other studies compare life history traits (such as growth rates) of ancestral and evolved genotypes. This standard
way of measuring and reporting changes in fitness has resulted in a consistent body of literature that explains adaptation
when populations evolve in this “standard ecological scenario.” Here, I suggest that for experimental evolution to investigate
adaptation in other ecological scenarios, such as fluctuating or persistently changing environments, measures of fitness must
be expanded such that they not only continue to be comparable between experiments, but also account for evolution and demographic
effects in all environments that an evolving lineage experiences. I examine two non-standard measures of fitness—fitness flux
and the total number of reproductive events—as potential ways to quantify adaptation by integrating historical information
about selection over many environments. This approach could allow us to make quantitative and biologically-meaningful comparisons
of adaptation across diverse ecological scenarios. I use the case study of understanding how phytoplankton communities may
respond to global change, where environmental variables change continuously, to explore concrete ways of using non-standard
fitness measures that consider both demographic effects and selection in changing, rather than in changed, environments. 相似文献
19.
J. David Archibald 《Journal of the history of biology》2009,42(3):561-592
The “tree of life” iconography, representing the history of life, dates from at least the latter half of the 18th century,
but evolution as the mechanism providing this bifurcating history of life did not appear until the early 19th century. There
was also a shift from the straight line, scala naturae view of change in nature to a more bifurcating or tree-like view. Throughout
the 19th century authors presented tree-like diagrams, some regarding the Deity as the mechanism of change while others argued
for evolution. Straight-line or anagenetic evolution and bifurcating or cladogenetic evolution are known in biology today,
but are often misrepresented in popular culture, especially with anagenesis being confounded with scala naturae. Although
well known in the mid 19th century, the geologist Edward Hitchcock has been forgotten as an early, if not the first author
to publish a paleontologically based “tree of life” beginning in 1840 in the first edition of his popular general geology
text Elementary Geology. At least 31 editions were published and those between 1840 and 1859 had this “paleontological chart” showing two trees,
one for fossil and living plants and another for animals set within a context of geological time. Although the chart did not
vary in later editions, the text explaining the chart did change to reflect newer ideas in paleontology and geology. Whereas
Lamarck, Chambers, Bronn, Darwin, and Haeckel saw some form of transmutation as the mechanism that created their “trees of
life,” Hitchcock, like his contemporaries Agassiz and Miller, who also produced “trees of life,” saw a deity as the agent
of change. Through each edition of his book Hitchcock denounced the newer transmutationist hypotheses of Lamarck, then Chambers,
and finally Darwin in an 1860 edition that no longer presented his tree-like “paleontological chart.” 相似文献
20.