Posts tagged ‘darwinism’

January 14th, 2013

What’s Science and What’s Not Science?

by Max Andrews

There isn’t a straight line of demarcation between science and pseudoscience (PS), which is universally applicable in all fields categorized as scientific.  A general guide for demarcating between the two is that the theory should have observable evidence, provides predictions, uses non-controversial reasoning, and is repeatable.  These are simply guidelines and do not necessarily count as criteria for disqualifying a theory if all aren’t met because some are simply untenable depending on the field in which they are applied.  Falsification is not necessary for a scientific theory but it does help substantiate the theory as a robust scientific theory.

When considering the criterion of observable evidence I make the distinction between observation and what is empirical.  Something may be observed and qualify as evidence even though it’s not related to material causes.  This is where the distinction between Duhemian science and Augustinian science must be made. I would deny the use of Duhemian science.  This method, or philosophy, has a goal of stripping science from all metaphysical imports.  Augustinian science is open to metaphysical presuppositions with science.  In the mid 1800’s William Whewell was the first to restrict science to only mean natural science.  Pierre Duhem followed this idea and constructed a methodology, which barred explanations to material causes.  For instance, agent causation is completely compatible with Augustinian science but is prohibited as a scientific explanation in Duhemian science.  Agent causation is something that can be observed but isn’t necessarily reductionistic in the material sense as with material causation because agent causation has metaphysical import.

November 26th, 2012

Call for Papers on the Philosophy of Science and Science

by Max Andrews

This is a call for papers to be submitted to me for online publication with Sententias. I’m looking for about ten papers. Please include an abstract and Turabian format. The paper can be a minimum of 4 pages but there’s not maximal limit. I will compile the papers and put them in the first volume and issue of the Sententias Journal (Free online PDF file). This is just to kickstart more activity for Sententias to take part in. Depending on the feedback and participation we can make this a peer-reviewed process so we can have some respectable esteem. But, for now, we need to start modestly. Theists, atheists, Christians, evolutionists, and intelligent design proponents are all welcome. Here are a few suggested options:

  • What’s a scientific theory?
  • What’s a scientific explanation?
  • Breaking down a particular interpretation of quantum physics.
  • Brak down a model of cosmological origins.
  • Argue for Darwinism
  • read more »

  • September 24th, 2012

    Catching William Lane Craig’s Intelligent Design Error

    by Max Andrews

    I was listening to William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith podcast on Sean Carroll on Science and God Part 1 this morning as I was walking from the parking lot into my office at University today, and I was quite surprised to hear a generalization Dr. Craig made concerning intelligent design.

    Dr. Craig discusses how no models of the universe involve God. (This discussion begins around the 7 minute mark.) I think he’s correct in that we don’t have a physical theory of the universe that uses God as an entity in its explanation. For instance, you’ll find no entity in the standard model of particle physics that denotes God. However, Craig says that you do find this in the proponents of intelligent design theory “who want to postulate God as an entity in a scientific theory–that God would be like a quark, or a black hole, or a quantum field. He would be a theoretical entity postulated in a scientific theory.”

    I have no doubt that there are intelligent design proponents, i.e. [young earth] creationists, who do this, but importing creationism into intelligent design theory strips ID for what it actually says.

    September 6th, 2012

    ENCODE Project Nature Paper Finds “Biochemical Functions for 80% of the Genome”

    by Max Andrews

    A groundbreaking paper in Nature reports the results of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, which has detected evidence of function for the “vast majority” of the human genome. Titled “An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome,” the paper finds an “unprecedented number of functional elements,” where “a surprisingly large amount of the human genome” appears functional. Based upon current knowledge, the paper concludes that at least 80% of the human genome is now known to be functional:

    The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project has systematically mapped regions of transcription, transcription factor association, chromatin structure and histone modification. These data enabled us to assign biochemical functions for 80% of the genome, in particular outside of the well-studied protein-coding regions. Many discovered candidate regulatory elements are physically associated with one another and with expressed genes, providing new insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation.(The ENCODE Project Consortium, “An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome,” Nature, Vol. 489:57-74 (September 6, 2012) (emphasis added))

    August 4th, 2012

    The Social Darwinian Revolution

    by Max Andrews

    Evolutionary Theories of Marriage and Mating

    “All those who have most closely studied the subject, and whose judgment is worth much more than mine, believe that communal marriage was the original and universal form throughout the world, including the intermarriage of brothers and sisters.”  Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, Book II, pp. 358-358

    The Kinsey Revolution (Alfred Kinsey)

    • Grew up in South Orange, NJ
    • Classmates predicted as “second Darwin”
    • Earned doctorate from Harvard, majoring in animal and plant taxonomy
    • Early work on gall wasps, but switched focus to human sexuality in 1930’s
    • By 1940’s received funding from the National Academy of Sciences and Rockefeller Foundation for study of human sexuality
    • Sexual Behavior in the Human Male released in 1948.
    • Reduced sexuality in the “human animal” to the product of normal mammalian biology
    • Claimed his research was neutral and value-free, but his comments undercut this claim
    • Kinsey’s unorthodox personal life
    • Pressured associates to engage in mutual sex
    • Engaged in masochistic sexual activities
    • Pressured students to submit to invasive interviews
    • Hated religion
      read more »

    August 3rd, 2012

    The Edge of Evolution

    by Max Andrews

    Darwinism is a multipart theory.  Some parts may be right, others may be wrong.  It’s important to distinguish what is right and what is wrong.

    • Common descent (interesting, but trivial)
    • Natural selection (interesting, but trivial)
    • Random mutation
    • The critical claim of Darwinism is the sufficiency of random mutation

    The problem of rugged evolutionary fitness landscape

    July 5th, 2012

    Teleology in Science

    by Max Andrews

    Many scientists believe teleology involves human action. The role of necessity and contingency are vital. Phrases like, “In order to…” and “It just so happens that…” are contingencies.  Before proceeding I’ll make a quick distinction between metaphysics and epistemology. Metaphysics includes being and becoming. Each have respective higher and lower forms. Being’s higher form is beauty, justice, etc. The lower form is triangularity, humanity, etc. Becoming’s higher and lower are sensible things and images, respectively. Epistemology includes knowledge and opinion. Knowledge pertains to understanding and reasoning. Opinion refers to perception and imagination.

    Teleology refers to final causation.  Aristotle’s science included four different causes: material, formal, efficient, and final. For instance, consider a marble statue of a man. The material cause is the stuff, the marble.  The formal cause is the whatness/sort, the statue.  The efficient cause is that which brings it into being, the sculptor.  The final cause is the end purpose, David.

    Can teleology simply be an implication? Information has origin in mind but we know minds act in accordance to purpose, thus teleology is an implication and not a direct conclusion.  Natural causation cannot bring about directionality or intentionality. Many philosophers of science, i.e. Alex Rosenberg, want to get us as close to nomic necessity as possible. Simply put, many philosophers, including Rosenberg, believe efficient causation is not satisfying.

    June 29th, 2012

    Neo-Darwinism

    by Max Andrews

    Evolution has many meanings.

    • Change over time
      • Evolution of the cosmos
      • Evolution of living things
      • Evolution of culture, technology, etc.
    • Changes within existing species
      • Morphological (anatomical)
      • Genetic (change in gene frequencies)
    • Common ancestry
      • Within a species
      • Descent of all species from a common ancestor
    • Darwinian evolution

    Darwinism: Descent with modification through unguided processes

    • Descent:  “I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long ago.”
    • Modification:  “The preservation of favorable individual differences of variations, and the destruction of those which are injurious (natural selection).”
    • Unguided processes:  “There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows. So I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of chance.”
      read more »

    June 25th, 2012

    New Paper: “Do Multiverse Scenarios Solve the Problem of Fine-Tuning?”

    by Max Andrews

    I have a new paper in moderation at arXiv. The two papers below are currently listed there:

    • “Epistemological-Scientific Realism and the Onto-Relationship of Inferentially Justified and Non-Inferentially Justified Beliefs,”arXiv: 1205.2896 (May 2012)
    • “Albert Einstein and Scientific Theology,” arXiv: 1205.4278 (May 2012).

    Abstract:

    The multiverse hypothesis is the leading alternative to the competing fine-tuning hypothesis. The multiverse dispels many aspects of the fine-tuning argument by suggesting that there are different initial conditions in each universe, varying constants of physics, and the laws of nature lose their known arbitrary values; thus, making the previous single-universe argument from fine-tuning incredibly weak. There are four options for why a fine-tuning is either unnecessary to invoke or illusory if the multiverse hypothesis is used as an alternative explanans. Fine-tuning might be (1) illusory if life could adapt to very different conditions or if values of constants could compensate each other. 

    June 25th, 2012

    The Real Barrier to Unguided Human Evolution

    by Max Andrews

    Reblogged from Ann Gauger.

    Comparing DNA sequences and estimating by how many nucleotides we differ from chimps doesn’t tell us much about what makes us human. Many of those nucleotide differences have no effect, because they are the product of neutral mutation and genetic drift. While these neutral mutations may affect the over-all mutation count, they don’t answer how many mutations are required for the transition from chimp-like to human.

    This problem is analogous to one we examined concerning protein evolution last year in the journal BIO-Complexity (Gauger and Axe 2011). Converting one protein to another’s function can be viewed as a version, in miniature, of converting one species to another. But it is much easier to convert proteins than species.