Gradualism Versus Punctuationism Essay

In the first chapter, Coyne discusses the basic concept outline of evolution, and brings clarity to the common misconceptions thought and said about how the science works, and the large misuse of the word theory. The first chapter of this book also defines very carefully each of the main hypothesis of evolutionary theory. Which stands in dissimilarity to many other treatments of evolution, which all have a propensity to confuse some readers by integrating different meanings of the word. Coyne also divides Darwinism into six components. They are: evolution which means change over time, gradualism which is a policy of slower change rather than sudden change or a revolution, speciation which is the evolutionary process where a new biological species

The late Stephen Jay Gould, a noted paleontologist who once described himself as an “agnostic leaning towards atheism,” wrote the classic treatise Evolution as Fact and Theory for Discover magazine back in 1981. His distinguished career and scientific achievements did earn him respect amongst his peers, but to the general public he is best known for his popular science writings and, to smaller circles, as a champion of evolution. As his treatise was written for a non-academic, science themed magazine, a basic understanding of science, and specifically evolutionary mechanics, was assumed of his audience. The treatise itself is on the often overlapping distinction between “theory” and “fact”; two words, he asserts, that creationists

When that happens over many generations a species’ gene pool changes to only include the traits that are a best fit for ensuring survival of that species, and a new species may evolve. In the case of the Galapagos finches Darwin studied, biologists have since found that one of the differences was their beak size, which were adapted to the specific seeds available to the finches as food on the different islands. This would support this principle as only the birds able to eat the local seeds would be able to survive to reproduce, thus over many generations, new finches with a variety of different beak sizes would “evolve”. The

Today I talked Melba’s mother, Lois about cancelling Melba and my plans to the wrestling match. I pray to God Melba will understand the rationale for not attending the match, and realize the losses we have to go through during this segregation period. God when will white people treat us blacks equally and allow us to watch wrestling matches without a concern or worry about our safety. I can already imagine how upset Melba will be, she understands how much I enjoy these dates. At the same time I should make sure Melba is not depressed and that Central High is God’s opportunity for her, despite the consequences and risks it might withhold. The integration will put Melba and our family in danger; the whites have a target on her head and she is

Throughout his essays, Gould applies dual or more complex definitions to certain words or phrases by implanting dashes which separate the words and meanings. For example, in Evolution as Fact and Theory, Gould breaks down the step by step process scientists had been following to explain the mystery of the mammalian jaw bone, where he references the term “mammal-like reptiles”. In this case, he does not mean that upright walking, scale covered, cold blooded creatures are what we are descendants of necessarily. Rather, the hyphen between “mammal” and “like” creates entirely new meaning, that meaning being more similar to mammals than to reptiles. Furthermore, the healthy use of dashes and hyphens amongst the piece remains one of the major tell-tale clues to Gould’s masterful

Over the past few centuries, humans have been questioning and debating over what makes evolution true. In Jerry Coyne’s work, Why Evolution is True, he noted two kinds of evidence from Darwin’s theory of evolution. The first evidence includes the six testable predictions of evolution: evolution, gradualism, speciation, common-ancestry, natural selection, and nonselective mechanisms of evolutionary change. The second evidence that Coyne noted in his work is the retrodiction. In Coyne’s work, Why Evolution is True, a retrodiction is the facts and data that are not necessarily predicted by the theory of evolution but it makes sense only in the light of the theory of evolution. Retrodiction uses present theories to explain events that happens in the past. Since evolution is a slow process, theories could not be tested. Therefore, we explain the existence of vestigial structures and how humans share a common ancestor with fish through the theory of evolution. Throughout the text, examples of retrodiction are the imperfect adaptation of a panda’s thumb and gill slits in the beginning stages of a human embryo. Common ancestry is proven by the existence of fossils and these evidences proves that evolution is true.

"New standards pointed out about that discrepancies in a molecular evidence has challenged the evolutionary theory of common ancestry of all living things and that whether microevolution can be extrapolated to explain macro evolutionary changes is controversial".(LeBeau, 2007)

Although Darwin’s (1809-1882) work in evolutionary observation might appear radically different from those focused on other areas, the theories he developed from these observation lead to such groundbreaking publishing’s as The Origin of Species. These intern caused an upset within the then accepted norms of philosophy and religion, had a profound impact on the academia, and further

The 19th and 20th century imperialism was substantially about the exploitation of the empires colonies and thus was not a necessarily an ‘civilizing mission’. During the 19th and 20th century European powers tried to justify their actions, by claiming that they were trying to re-educate the native population through education, this included Christian missionaries which were placed throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, it became apparent that these powers gained significant wealth by commercializing items that could not be obtained otherwise. A key example of this includes the Belgium Congo whereby Leopold II gained significant wealth through rubber plantations. To a certain extend it was a ‘’civilizing mission’’, however it is clear that the Europeans exploited these regions for economic gain.

However, there is also gradualism and punctuated equilibrium to support the creationist side. Gradualism and punctuated equilibrium explain how species go through evolutionary change. Gradualism is belief that changes occur, or ought to occur, slowly in the form of gradual steps, another topic related to gradualism is incrementalism. Gradualism supports how species go through evolutionary changes over short and longer periods of time. Gradualism is also very popular in politics, it is one of the defining features in conservatism and reformism,

Users of accounting information, who do not have day to day access to the record of the business, rely on the integrity and judgment of management to provide suitable information of a high quality. All financial statements are essentially historical documents they shows the financial performance of the company. Most users of financial statements are concerned about what will happen in the future and decision making upon the present or past financial records of the company. Stockholders are concerned in future earnings and dividends. Creditors are concerned with the company’s future ability to repay its debts. Managers are concerned with the company’s ability to finance future expansions. Despite the fact that financial statements are

The article, “A Matter of Scale,” urges the audience to observe the small and extraordinary components of the biosphere and acknowledge its genetic variations as explained by Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, Kelly’s essay, “Evolution: An Article of Faith,” considers Darwin’s theory as a “false religion” suppressing God’s ability to create the “work of intelligence.” (Evolution) The heated debate over the credibility of Darwin’s theory of evolution has led to the division of scientific and religious groups. Devoted, religious people discover two major flaws with Darwin’s theory of evolution regarding the inaccuracies of the fossil record and the contradicting phrase “survival of the fittest” that has passed on harmful mutations to next

An opposing theory, punctuated equilibrium shows society’s changes as happening very unexpectedly and having great effect. Although originated by Ernest Mayr, this theory was first introduced by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in 1972(Science.jrank.org). These two paleontologists wrote a paper which established the foundation of this theory(Academic Room). “Mayr later complimented Eldredge and Gould's paper, stating that evolutionary stasis had been "unexpected by most evolutionary biologists" and that punctuated equilibrium "had a major impact on paleontology and evolutionary biology”(Academic Room).

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1755-1829) is one of the best-known early evolutionists, holding a belief that evolution was a continuous development and strived toward greater complexity and perfection. Through which, his theory of evolution was that living organisms evolved in a unceasingly up ward direction, from dead matter, through simple to more complex forms and towards human “perfection” (Nesci.edu, 2015). From his theories of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics; where organisms adapt to their environments and those changes were passed onto their off springs (Corbis, 2001), to his theories of Use and Disuse, where organisms that are not used progressively disappear (Evolution.berkeley.edu, 2015). Lamarck was the first biologist to publish

Creationists, mistaking the uncertain in science for the unscientific, see the debate among evolutionists regarding how best to explain evolution as a sign of weakness. Scientists, on the other hand, see uncertainty as simply an inevitable element of scientific knowledge. They regard debates on fundamental theoretical issues as healthy and stimulating. Science, says evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, is "most fun when it plays with interesting ideas, examines their implications, and recognizes that old information may be explained in surprisingly new ways." Thus, through all the debate over evolutionary mechanisms biologists have not been led to doubt that evolution has occurred. "We are debating how it happened," says Gould (1983, p.256).