Evolusie: Krake in die Mondering van die Neo-Darwinisme

Abstract

The overview provided in this article not only reveals that modern biology harbours diverse schools of thought, but it also demonstrates that the cornerstone of Neo-Darwinism ought to be questioned. Various arguments are advanced in order to show that Neo-Darwinism does not represent a purely natural scientific theory. It also appears that speculation regarding the assumed genesis of the first living entities did not yield a positive result. In addition, one of the most important foundations (even conjectured to be the decisive one) of Neo-Darwinism, the ‘fossil record’, turned into a large embarrassment for Neo-Darwinism, because the dominant hall-mark of the record is constancy (and not change). On top of this the ‘Cambrian explosion’ revealed the simultaneous appearance of the main animal types without a common ancestor. In addition it is briefly mentioned how the ‘parade-horse’ of Neo-Darwinism was dethroned during the last 40 years, that the story about the white moth of England turned into a serious embarrassment and that Haeckel misrepresented embryonic development. The advances made during the second half of the 20th century in respect of our knowledge of the micro-dimensions of the living cell gave birth to Behe’s theory of irreducibly complex systems which, in turn, inspired a revival of the vitalistic idea of an ‘intelligent design’.