Education
Sir,—John Canham questions evolutionary evidence for man’s emergence. Much evidence, including the fossil record, supports it. Even for mental faculties, it appears unnecessary to postulate a discontinuity. Saying that evolution has “little to offer” on the origins of matter and life, and suggesting it is less helpfui than the Bible, shows lack of knowledge of evolutionary science. P. J. Rumens should note that I stated fact and how a fact is viewed in science. “Alternative viewpoints” were not attacked; I indicated their inappropriateness in a science course, given their religious nature. A television debate on evolution is of doubtful intellectual value. To Marianne Daines: A statement of fact is not a decree. “Provisional” and “decree” are nonmiscible, the latter being foreign to the free spirit of scientific inquiry. I agree: “Truth is not established by decree.” The fossil record, although understandably incomplete, fully supports evolution. An appeal to the second law of thermodynamics is invalid. Evolution does not violate it. — Yours, etc., WARWICK DON. June 8, 1984.
[This correspondence is now closed.—Editor.]
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Press, 13 June 1984, Page 18
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173Education Press, 13 June 1984, Page 18
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