ipl-logo

Retrodictions In Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution Is True

855 Words4 Pages

Predictions and Retrodictions In his novel, Why Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne describes two major sources of evidence for evolution. He said that testable predictions can be made from the theory of evolution and confirmed through biological research. He also claimed that retrodictions play a big part in supporting the theory of evolution. Retrodictions defined by Coyne is as follows: “facts and data that aren’t necessarily predicted by the theory of evolution.” Coyne is correct in saying that evolution has supporting evidence branching from predictions and retrodictions. The book On the Origin of Species, published in 1859 by Charles Darwin, first proposed the idea of evolution via natural selection. Darwin’s idea was that natural selection …show more content…

The word retrodictions can be broken up into two terms “retro” and “dictions”. The prefix “retro” means involving or related to the past. The second part of the word “dictions” related to ‘pre’dictions but in this case retrodictions are being discussed so it means predictions after the fact. Retrodictions use present theories to try to explain past events. They are necessary as evidence for evolution because it is a slow process and the theory can’t exactly be tested so it is explained with retrodictions. One of the retrodictions that is good evidence for evolution is vestigial features in organisms. According to Coyne, a vestigial structure is described as “a feature of a species that was an adaption in its ancestors, but has either lost its usefulness completely, or been coopted for new uses” (57). One very obvious vestigial feature is wings on a flightless bird. Without evolution, there is no saying why an intelligent designer would give an organism a feature it doesn’t need such as wings for a flightless bird. An intelligent designer would give these organisms other useful appendages other than wings since they aren’t used for flying. From an evolutionary perspective, the ancestors of flightless birds may have consumed too much energy from flying that they might’ve been wasting energy. This energy could be used for other things like survival and reproducing (fitness). Coyne suggested that

Show More
Related

Charles Darwin's Beak Lab Analysis: Natural Selection

336 Words | 2 Pages

Beak Lab Analysis Charles Darwin , a naturalist, discovered and stated that organisms arise and grow and develop through the natural selection. Natural selection is the process in which nearby organisms well adapted to the environment to survive and to produce offspring. In class we did a lab where we studied the amounts of food birds get with their different sizes of beaks. For an example, we use a spoon to represent a larger beak I found that it was harder to pick the food.

Read More

Summary Of The Book That Changed America By Randall Fuller

1057 Words | 5 Pages

Thus, it proves itself as legitimate by conforming to its own process and establishes its clear, lasting impact on the fields it touched. In fact, Fuller’s organization of his presentation of evolution lends credence to the theory itself for this reason, making the layout of his book incredibly effective in substantiating its central claim. Additionally, his framework offers him some leeway in creating a narrative worth consumption; by using this outline, he is able to write a story rather than just compile a list of bland facts as many less effective historical writings often

Read More

Summary Of Evolution As Fact And Theory By Stephen Jay Gould

340 Words | 2 Pages

In the article “Evolution as Fact and Theory” Stephen Jay Gould who is one of the leading theorists in evolution argues that the debate between evolutionists and creationists is pointless since creationists’ arguments lack support and evidence. Gould writes that creationists’ main argument is that evolution is only a theory. However, Gould states that it is not only a theory but also a fact. He suggests that humans evolved from apelike— whether or not is happened by Darwin’s mechanism. What Gould is saying is that there is more than enough evidence to support the theory of evolution and the question that scientists are trying to answer is how exactly all living organisms are linked.

Read More

Was Darwin Wrong David Quammen Analysis

1156 Words | 5 Pages

Over the eras, many scientists have expressed concerns with Darwin's evolution theory and in "Was Darwin Wrong?" by David Quammen one can learn about the proof behind the theory of evolution. Many people do not believe in evolution due to an overall unawareness about the theory and religious upbringing. However, Quammen clarifies the truth behind evolution in his article. The article states five positions of evidence biogeography, embryology, morphology, paleontology, and the bacterial resistance to antibiotics discovered in humans.

Read More

What Was The Significance Of The Scopes Trial

837 Words | 4 Pages

In addition, scientists use the homologous structure as evidence for evolution by using structures with different appearances and functions that derived from the same body parts in a common ancestor. Furthermore, natural selection is evidence for evolution because for example, when Darwin collected birds they were a closely related group of distinct species, but the different beak shapes were related to food gathering. Artificial selection is another piece of evidence for evolution in which operates by favoring individuals with certain phenotypic traits allowing them to reproduce and pass their genes to the next generation. Overall many biologists accepted Darwin’s theories but there are some objections such as how evolution is not demonstrated, no fossil intermediates, the intelligent design argument, evolution violating the second law of thermodynamics, proteins are too improbable, the irreducible complexity argument, and how natural selection does not imply

Read More

Scientific Method Dbq

557 Words | 3 Pages

The theory of evolution first came to be during the 19th century by a man called Darwin. Darwin also published a book related on the theory of evolution called “On the Origin of Species”. At first this theory was mocked, this was because during the 19th century majority of the people in Europe especially England were practicing Christians and they despised the theory because it questioned the power of god and if he created all life on earth or not. However as time progressed this theory started to become more widely accepted as science had improved over the years and scientists could find links between humans and our ancestors that we may have originated from. Obstacles for the theory were hat during the 19th century science was not as advance as it is in the present day and also they didn’t have the technology to prove that humans had links to ancestors before.

Read More

Creationism In The Gilded Age

926 Words | 4 Pages

It may be common knowledge to know that Creationism was a principle theory in the realm of science during this time period. Creationism was taught in our schools and institutions, but during this age that mentality took a pivotal shift. Creationism, which is believe in a supernatural creator came under threat by rising, new theories. Theories such as Darwinism began there moment of birth during this time period. It would be by the writing’s of Charles Darwin that society would come to know of Darwinism.

Read More

Darwin's Doubt Summary

1777 Words | 8 Pages

The book “Darwin’s Doubt” by Stephen C Meyer attempts to negate the negativity surrounding the theory of intelligent design by giving a creationist’s perspective on the different issues surrounding the controversy and provide an argument for the legitimacy of intelligent design from a scientific and rational viewpoint. The book is broken into three different sections part one titled “The Mystery of Missing Fossils”, part two titled “How to build an animal” and part 3 titled “After Darwin. What?” Part one of the book focuses on the lack of validation and evidence hence the name “The Mystery of Missing Fossils” and gives a very brief introduction to the problems of missing fossils, missing phyla, and just general missing validation of the evolutionary

Read More

Charles Darwin Thesis Statement

930 Words | 4 Pages

Seth Justus English 2 Mr. Johnson Project Eagle Paper on Charles Darwin Thesis Statement: Charles Darwin shaped evolutionary Biology into the way we see it today with his writings on how genetic variations of species between generations, how climate and many other things can cause variations between species, and just his idea of survival of the fittest in The Origin of Species. Primary Source: The Origin of Species The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, published on November 24th 1859 is considered to be the foundation to evolutionary biology. The Origin of Species introduces the scientific theory that populations of species evolve over long periods of time through the process of Natural Selection.

Read More

What Are The Arguments Against Darwin's Theory Of Evolution

1126 Words | 5 Pages

Natural selection is seen in the finches that Darwin studied on the Galapagos Islands. Environment and food supply changes caused the finches beaks to adapt in a unique way. Studies on Darwin’s finches show us that natural selection in a natural environment is interpretable, observable, and repeatable (Grant, 2003). Natural selection is representable in different types of birds such as the Island Scrub-jay. A study published in 2015 on these Island Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma insularis) demonstrates examples of natural selection.

Read More

Should Creationism Be Taught In Schools Essay

966 Words | 4 Pages

A theory is defined as an explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a compilation of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Theory is not scientific law, which is a natural phenomenon that has been proven as absolute truth. However, in the public-school setting, evolution, a theory concerning the Earth’s origins, is established as an indisputable fact allowing no room for other theories, specifically creationism, to be taught. These two battling theories uphold two opposing perspectives that attempt to explain the creation and development of life.

Read More

Charles Darwin's Theory Of Natural Selection

583 Words | 3 Pages

Based on his findings and observations from his travels along with his discussions with fellow scientists of the time, Charles Darwin conceived the theory of natural selection which explained how species originated from common forms and diversified over geological time. Although the immenseness of this theory was not fully grasped at the time, the theory of natural selection may have been the most important idea in the theory of evolutionary processes. However the mechanism by which natural selection causes ‘genetic evolution’ of a species was only later realised when the experiments of Mendel’s publication were discovered. Example For the purpose of explaining evolution I would like to cite the classical example of the peppered moth (Biston betularia).

Read More

Evolutionary Theory: Tree Of Life

1052 Words | 5 Pages

Why would a supernatural intelligence give a creature a useless organ or appendage? Surely if the designer is intelligent enough to create life from non-life, then they would design creatures perfectly. The problem with this argument is firstly we do not know for sure whether these vestigial structures are completely redundant and useless; they may in fact have unseen or unknown uses. And secondly, does this argument actually reduce the likelihood of a supernatural intelligence significantly enough to promote evolutionary theory as very likely? It would seem not.

Read More

Charles Darwin's Theory Of Natural Selection

529 Words | 3 Pages

Darwin's ideas had an enormous impact on modern culture, changing forever our view of the world and our perception of ourselves. More than evolution, the great novelty in The Origin of Species was Natural Selection. Darwin s theory of evolution may be the generally held thought that existence may be related and has descended from a common ancestor. Darwin's all hypothesis assumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic (unguided)”descent with modification “.

Read More

Essay On Charles Darwin's Theory Of Natural Selection

1250 Words | 5 Pages

Charles Darwin became famous for his theory of natural selection. This theory suggests that a change in heritability traits takes place in a population over time. This is due to random mutations that occur in the genome of an individual organism, and offspring can inherit these mutations. This was defined as the key to evolution, this is because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual. Until the 19th century, the prevailing view in western societies was that differences between individuals of species were uninteresting departures from their platonic ideals of created kinds.

Read More

More about Retrodictions In Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution Is True

Related Topics

Open Document