["Darwinism" and "Darwinist"] suggest a false narrowness to the field of modern evolutionary biology, as though it was the brainchild of a single person 150 years ago, rather than a vast, complex and evolving subject to which many other great figures have contributed
The word Darwinism is shorthand for evolution by natural selection, named after Charles Darwin, the scientist who first developed, popularised and gathered evidence for the theory. The nuances of its use, however, are dependent on who is using the term. Within biology it is synonymous with natural selection, but within creationism it is more of a snarl word.
To creationists and intelligent design proponents, Darwinism is a derogatory phrase used to describe evolution. By retitling natural selection as "Darwinism", creationists seek to reduce the theory to the level of any other "ism", and thus no more worthy of teaching than creationism. See the evolutionism article for more.
To most biologists, notably Richard Dawkins for example, Darwinism is simply a synonym for evolution by natural selection.[2] This contrasts it against Lamarckism, which is a competing (but completely discredited) mechanism for evolution - and Dawkins often refers to natural selection as "Darwinian". Various other permutations of the term bump around the Internet and blogs. Darwinist is used to describe a vocal proponent of evolution, while neo-Darwinism - to differentiate currently accepted theories about evolution with some of Darwin's original ideas that have turned out to be incorrect. Neo-Darwinism is generally used to refer to the "Modern Evolutionary Synthesis" of Darwinian evolution and Mendelian genetics. Neo-Darwinism is sometimes contrasted with newer schools of thought such as "evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo)," which seeks to incorporate more findings from molecular genetics and developmental biology into the evolutionary paradigm.
The main problem with this term is that science is about evidence and not personality cults, so naming a branch of science directly after its inventor or discoverer is a dubious practice at best. While great contributors to a field of study are respected, they are not worshipped and revered like gurus.
It is interesting to note how this mentality of describing Darwin as the supposed "worshiped father of evolution" reflects the creationists' need for a worshiped father figure to be the head of everything. It is like calling any one who accepts gravity exists "Newtonists" or those who accept relativity "Einsteinians" or "Galileans" as if the way that the universe works is a world view, passed down and declared from on high. Although Charles Darwin is a seminal figure in the modern theory of evolution, and his contribution is certainly recognized, there have been over 150 years of advancements since his initial publication of The Origin of Species - the study of evolution has expanded well beyond Darwin's original works and the ideas he outlined, namely that evolution can now be described in terms of DNA, something that Darwin was unaware of.
While it is certainly true that the "isms" which are based on people's names (such as Thatcherism, Marxism, and Confucianism) obviously base their thoughts largely or entirely on the writings or thoughts of those individuals, the same cannot be said of "Darwinism". Therefore to think that a modern evolutionary biologist would hang on every word Darwin said as unchangeable gospel is certainly a parody of science that has no basis in reality.
Read the original post:
- Modern evolutionary synthesis - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2016]
- Why Darwinism Is False | Center for Science and Culture [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2016]
- Difference between Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism | Major ... [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- Natural selection - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - University of Colorado Boulder [Last Updated On: December 22nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 22nd, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - Dr. Hartnell's Nutty the A.D.D. Squirrel [Last Updated On: December 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 25th, 2016]
- Darwinism and World War One - creation.com [Last Updated On: January 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 20th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell's Rebuke to Fellow Journalists: A Skeptical Look at Evolution Is Not Beyond Your Powers - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - lareviewofbooks [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - Los Angeles Review of Books - lareviewofbooks [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Biologist Ann Gauger: Apoptosis (Cell Death) Is an Enigma for Darwinism - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell on Mind, Matter, and Self-Defeating Darwinism - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- The Curious Romance of Darwinism and Creationism -- And Why Intelligent Design Must Be Silenced - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Approaching, It's Time for a Look Back at Evolution ... - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 8th, 2017]
- The Lord's Day, Meet Darwin Day and Shudder | The American ... - American Spectator [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Criticism of Darwinism - MOLWICK [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Coming Tomorrow, Here's Tom Bethell on Darwin's ... - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- The Truth about Soviet Science and Darwinian Evolution Isn't as Darwinists Would Like Us to Believe - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Happy Darwin Day! German Natural History Museum Is Our 2017 Censor of the Year - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- What Darwinists Don't Tell You: Valentine's Day Edition - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- COLUMN: Trump Train driving a new type of Darwinism - Jacksonville Daily News [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Disregarding Fake News from Darwin Promoters, South Dakota Scientist Applauds Academic Freedom Bill - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Astronomers Use Darwinism To Plot Stellar Family Tree - Forbes - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Doug Axe: Hidden Figures and the Engineering Challenge to Darwinism - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- The Envelope, Please? Doug Axe and Undeniable Are World Magazine 2016 Science Book of the Year! - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: March 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 3rd, 2017]
- HOWS THAT MINIMUM WAGE LAW WORKING?: Increase sets social Darwinism in motion - Aztec Press [Last Updated On: March 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 3rd, 2017]
- "Darwin's Dice" -- Michael Flannery on the Role of Chance in ... - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- 'Mating' Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism - Live Science [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- In China We Can Criticize Darwin, Continued - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]
- 'Darwinism doesn't quite cut it,' says Tonko, rallying North Country Democrats - Sun Community News [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]
- Survival of the fittest: AI perfectly illustrates Darwinism at a business level - Information Age [Last Updated On: June 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 7th, 2017]
- The First Church of Darwin - Personal Liberty Digest [Last Updated On: June 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 9th, 2017]
- Evolution as Bingo: Darwinists Seek Better Ways to Indoctrinate - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: June 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 11th, 2017]
- The Darwin Project is the Overwatch-Hunger Games crossover you never knew you wanted - GamesRadar [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2017]
- For the Public School Biology Teacher, Zombie Science Makes an Outstanding Resource - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2017]
- On Amazon buying Whole Foods: 'The ramifications for all of retail are seismic' - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2017]
- Orphan Black Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Clutch of Greed - Den of Geek US [Last Updated On: June 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 18th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - RationalWiki [Last Updated On: June 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 20th, 2017]
- From the Recesses of My Mind - ChicagoNow (blog) [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- Are aliens more likely by design than black holes? - SYFY WIRE (blog) [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- Turkey to stop teaching evolution in secondary schools as part of new national curriculum - The Independent [Last Updated On: June 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 23rd, 2017]
- Botany: He made plants a profession - Nature.com [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism Is What Truly Guides Trump - New York Magazine [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2017]
- Scott Turner's Purpose and Desire An Important New Voice in the Evolution Debate - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: June 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 27th, 2017]
- PETYA Darwinism applied to cyberspace - CSO Online [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2017]
- UK police to embrace IoT in age of 'Digital Darwinism' - The Internet of Business (blog) [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2017]
- Darwinism Will Fix the Investment Industry - Bloomberg [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2017]
- We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: July 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 4th, 2017]
- Woodrow Wilson & Donald Trump's Darwinian vs. Newtonian ... - National Review [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- Will Darwinism Kill Feminism? - Heat Street [Last Updated On: July 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 7th, 2017]
- Bluebirds, babies, and orgasms: the women scientists who fought Darwinism's sexist myths - Prospect [Last Updated On: July 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 7th, 2017]
- Pundit Calls Proverbs the "Most Republican Book in the Bible" Because It Preaches "Social Darwinism" - Independent Women's Forum... [Last Updated On: July 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 11th, 2017]
- Biologist Laments, I Want Deeply for [Darwinism] to Make Sense - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: July 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 11th, 2017]
- Here's Why We Can't Just Ignore The Racism In The Dawn Of Evolutionary Theory - The Daily Caller [Last Updated On: July 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 16th, 2017]
- Does Darwinism Lead to Infanticide Acceptance? - National Review [Last Updated On: July 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 17th, 2017]
- Biologist J. Scott Turner's Rediscovery How Darwinism Fatally Overlooks What Life Is - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2017]
- EDITORIAL: Republicans can't turn anger into viable health policy - Waco Tribune-Herald [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2017]
- Darwinism: Old politics will perish - The Hans India [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2017]
- Why Aristotle and Aquinas? - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2017]
- An RX for Social Darwinism - HuffPost [Last Updated On: July 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 26th, 2017]
- Creationism vs. Darwinism - Creation - AllAboutCreation.org [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2017]
- Home Movies/Out on Digital: Aug. 3, 2017 - Shepherd Express [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2017]
- AN Wilson: It's time Charles Darwin was exposed for the fraud he was - Evening Standard [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2017]
- Devouring Capitalism - Bloomberg [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2017]
- Fintan O'Toole: There will always be a market for misogyny - Irish Times [Last Updated On: August 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 6th, 2017]
- Business times are a changin' - White Bear Press [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2017]
- ANALYSIS-Buoyant bitcoin stirs crypto-bubble fears - Nasdaq [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2017]
- Liberals Are For ScienceUntil They're Not - Power Line (blog) [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2017]
- Social media a double-edged sword, IG cautions students - The Hindu [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist - historian | News24 - News24 [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - American Museum of Natural History [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist historian - DestinyConnect [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 18th, 2017]
- The alt-right loves Nietzsche, but Nietzsche would not love them - Boing Boing [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 18th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed And Here They Are! - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 18th, 2017]
- The birth of Geotrumpism - Guardian (blog) [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2017]
- How can I keep my employees from jumping ship? - New York Post [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed -- And Here ... - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2017]
- American lit, conservative thought and Trump - St. Augustine Record [Last Updated On: August 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 22nd, 2017]
- Digital transformation: It's not a destination - Econsultancy (blog) [Last Updated On: August 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 22nd, 2017]
- Will Hate Trigger A Religious Revival Via Social Media? - MediaPost Communications [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2017]