Some scientists are currently pushing for a renaming of the theory that states all things evolve from common ancestors through various adaptations to their environment. Instead of calling it Darwinian evolution, the team behind the proposal simply wants to name it the Theory of Evolution. This change will not be implemented as an affront to the great biologist, but simply on account of the confusions his name creates among those hearing about this field of research for the first time. Also, his theory has significantly augmented over the last two centuries, with words that couldn't have belonged to the famed British naturalist himself.
Basically, Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch, both researchers at the National Center for Science Education, argued in the January issue of the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach that Darwinism, as a concept, “fails to convey the full panoply of modern evolutionary biology accurately, and it fosters the inaccurate perception that the field stagnated for 150 years after Darwin's day.”
In other words, they are worried that this name might create the false impression that no significant discoveries have been made since Darwin's death, and that all the biologists involved with research on the matter are just wasting time and money.
“We don't call astronomy Copernicism, nor gravity Newtonism. Using phrases like 'Darwinian selection' or 'Darwinian evolution' implies there must be another kind of evolution at work, a process that can be described with another adjective. For instance, 'Newtonian physics' distinguishes the mechanical physics Newton explored from subatomic quantum physics. So 'Darwinian evolution' raises a question: What's the other evolution?” Stony Brook University adjunct professor Carl Safina asks in a paper written this week for The New York Times.
There is, of course, no other kind of evolution, but religious groups that strongly oppose all the irrefutable pieces of evidence brought forth by the academic community use the term “Darwinian evolution” to shed doubt in the minds of children on the fundamental truths of science, in favor of a weak creationist theory, which advocates that God created the world as it is today. This naturally makes no sense, seeing how fossils and other archaeological finds clearly point to the fact that evolution and nature were the main forces driving our development.
“Compounding the problem of 'Darwinism' is the hijacking of the term by creationists to portray evolution as a dangerous ideology – an 'ism' – that has no place in the science classroom. When scientists and teachers use 'Darwinism' as synonymous with evolutionary biology, it reinforces such a misleading portrayal and hinders efforts to present the scientific standing of evolution accurately. Accordingly, the term 'Darwinism' should be abandoned as a synonym for evolutionary biology,” the two NCSE experts share.
Find us on Google+
