cphil_evolution
THE PROBLEM OF EVOLUTION
by Ray Shelton
I. INTRODUCTION
The problem of evolution is a subdivision of the problem of change and the problem of the one and the many, which has been dealt with previously. The word “evolution” is from the Latin e (“out”) and volvere (“to roll”), and the concept has been defined in many ways in the history of philosophy. In general the concept of evolution has been taken to mean development, growth, progress, variation, transformation. But since the middle of nineteenth century the meaning of the word “evolution” has been determined by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
II. HISTORY
A. ANCIENT THEORIES
1. Anaximander
2. Heraclitus
3. Empedocles
4. Democritus
5. Epicureans
6. Plato
7. Aristotle
8. Stoicism
10. Augustine
B. MODERN THEORIES
As modern science began with a revolt in astronomy against Aristotelian– Ptolemaic view of the universe by Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo and in physics against Aristotelian physics by Galileo and Isaac Newton, in the nineteenth century modern science continued this revolt against Aristotle in biology and geology.
1. Geology
3. Lyell
4. Lamarck
5. Darwin
7. Spencer
8. Haeckel
9. Morgan
10. Alexander
11. Bergson
III. EVALUATION
1. Mutations are Random, not Directed
2. Mutations are Very, Very Rare
3. Good Mutations are Very, Very Rare
1. Igneous Rocks and Volcanism
F. Uniformitarianism and the Laws of Thermodynamics