This article explains the history and main theories of evolution, discussing the criticisms and errors that have been made along the way. It argues that although evolutionary theory is scientifically valid, it still has unresolved limitations and should be viewed as a developing hypothesis rather than a perfect theory.
With the exception of fervent religious believers in Christian fundamentalism, most people accept evolution as a fact. The reason for excluding religious believers is to separate religion and science into two distinct realms: Christian fundamentalism, as well as theism and creationism, are accepted as compelling theories in the religious world, but not as laws or factual theories in science. This dichotomy has long been a point of contention and has led to a variety of social and philosophical issues that arise when religious beliefs and scientific enquiry collide.
To be a scientific theory, a cause-and-effect relationship must be a universally accepted truth, a law that clearly states a universal fact. A mere mythical claim of a divine power that created all things is hardly scientific. Evolution, on the other hand, is a theory based on the scientific observation that living things have changed over a very long period of time. However, when evolution was first proposed, many people and religious believers did not accept it as a scientific theory, but rather condemned it. This was because the new worldview it proposed clashed strongly with the religious beliefs of the time.
Despite the fact that evolution has gained more and more support from scientific evidence over time, it’s not a perfect theory that is completely free of errors. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what evolutionary theory is, its limitations, and its errors. In doing so, we will consider the contributions it has made to modern science and the questions that remain unanswered.
The historical background and main theories of evolution
The history of evolutionary theory dates back to before Darwin. It was Lamarck, not Darwin, who first systematically described evolution. Lamarck proposed that one species could change into another, and that humans came from other species. Lamarck argued that species changed into higher animals through a gradual process of development. These ideas were revolutionary for their time, and went directly against the traditional view that creatures were created in a fixed form.
Lamarck proposed two theories. The first was the theory of fusibility, which states that animals change their behaviour when their living environment changes, and as a result, the organs that are frequently used develop according to the new behaviour, while the organs that are not used degenerate. This theory provided the basic idea of evolutionary theory in that organisms undergo morphological changes to adapt to their environment, but it was not empirically supported by later scientists. The second theory is the inheritance of acquired traits, which states that evolution occurs through the transmission of acquired traits to descendants through heredity. Lamarck’s theories were an early attempt to explain biological evolution, but they had limitations that were not scientifically proven.
Darwin’s theory of natural selection and its impact
Fifty years later, Darwin developed Lamarck’s theories and proposed the theory of natural selection. The theory of natural selection consists of four basic principles. The first is ‘overproduction and variation’: organisms produce a large number of offspring relative to the environment in which they live or the amount of food available, and there are variations in form, behaviour, and function among the offspring. This variation is the starting point for evolution. The second is ‘competition for survival,’ in which individuals compete for limited resources, and only the fittest survive.
The third is survival of the fittest and natural selection, in which individuals with favourable traits survive and those with unfavourable traits are eliminated. Thus, favourable traits are selectively passed on to the next generation. Finally, the fourth is heredity and speciation, in which the traits of individuals that survive the competition for survival are passed on to their offspring through natural selection, and species change and differentiate over generations.
Darwin’s theory of natural selection has since been developed by many biologists. Weismann, for example, complemented Darwin’s theory by proposing germline descent. He argued that only variations in germ cells are inherited, emphasising that evolution is a genetic change, not just a change in traits. These studies played an important role in developing evolution into a more sophisticated scientific theory.
Criticisms and objections to evolutionary theory
Although evolutionary theory has long gained scientific consensus, it has faced a number of criticisms along the way. The main one is that the process of evolution is difficult to prove experimentally because it takes place over too long a period of time. Also, although the results of evolution, such as speciation, have been observed, there are limitations to observing the process itself in real time. For these reasons, some critics argue that evolution is more of a hypothesis than a scientific theory.
Creationists, who are driven by religious beliefs, argue that evolution is insufficient in explaining the complexity of life. They argue that natural selection and mutation alone cannot produce the complex structures of life, and they propose the concept of intelligent design. However, despite these criticisms, evolutionary theory remains the most powerful scientific theory to explain the changes in life.
Conclusion: The present and future of evolutionary theory
The theory of evolution has been proven valid by a large body of biological evidence. Although there are still unresolved errors and controversies, evolutionary theory holds an important place in the history of science. Advances in molecular biology have made it possible to analyse genes, allowing us to understand evolutionary processes more precisely. In particular, genetic evidence has become an important foundation of evolutionary theory, playing a key role in explaining the flexible relationships between different species.
In the end, evolutionary theory is still a work in progress, rather than being recognised as a complete theory in the biological community. However, its explanations for the evolution of different species have played an important role in expanding our worldview and exploring the origins of life. Evolutionary theory will continue to be revised, refined, and developed, and will remain an important theory in the history of science.
