The creation lie
The creation lie: Why Darwin is right is a popular scientific non-fiction book by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins published in 2010 in German by Ullstein Verlag . It was published in the English original under the title The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution in 2009 by Bantam Press, New York .
Dawkins understands his work as "a personal summary of all the evidence that the 'theory' of evolution is really a fact that is as indisputable as any scientific fact can be." P. 7 Dawkins' arguments are directed against the public work of supporters or representatives of creationism and intelligent design , who deny evolution (“history denier” p. 15 and others ), relativize the theory of evolution with the argument that it was “not proven” p. 19 , “Only a theory” p. 18 f., 488 u. a. or “a question of personal belief” p. 12 , and cite this as a justification, for example to hinder or prevent the teaching of the theory of evolution in school lessons. Pp. 12 and 488
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In his earlier works such as The Blind Watchmaker (1986), And A River Sprout in Eden (1995) and The Summit of the Improbable (1996), Dawkins attempted to dispel some of the greatest misconceptions about evolution. Dawkins used the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his work The Origin of Species as an opportunity to summarize arguments and evidence for evolution in a book. It was important for him to refute the frequently put forward argument that evolution is a mere theory , since the term is confused with that of the hypothesis . For this reason the book was originally supposed to appear under the title Only a Theory . The American biologist Kenneth Miller came before Dawkins with his work Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul (2008).
By his own admission, Dawkins was unhappy with the German title of the book, as it only emphasized its negative aspects. The Greatest Show on Earth should expressly not be a book against religion , since he had already written such a book with the divine delusion . P. 14
motivation
For Dawkins, the rejection of the theory of evolution in some countries is not a marginal phenomenon. He cites opinion polls from the years 2005 to 2008, according to which 39 or more percent of respondents in the United States, Great Britain and Turkey profess positions of creationism or intelligent design or deny central findings of the theory of evolution. Pp. 482–486 According to Dawkins, a large part of the rejection of the theory of evolution results from "a very general scientific ignorance". P. 486 In this regard he also considers the book "necessary". P. 482
Against this background, Dawkins worries about the importance of the theory of evolution in science lessons. He complains that "the history deniers, especially in America and in much of the Islamic world, have considerable power over schools and their curricula" p. 126 . He worries about the educational influence of representatives of creationism and intelligent design in the United States, which
- “Have the school commissions in hand or home-school their children to deny them access to proper science education. Among them are many members of the US Congress , some governors of US states and even presidential and vice presidential candidates. They have the money and the power to build institutions and universities, even a museum where children ride life-size mechanical models of dinosaurs that they are seriously told coexist with humans. ” P. 305
In Great Britain, Dawkins fears, the example of Emmanuel City Technology College ( Gateshead ) could set a precedent. Its spokesman had claimed that the theory of evolution was just a "belief". P. 13 Therefore, according to Dawkins, the curricula of this school and of the "proposed new generation of faith schools (...) must be closely monitored". P. 14
As a target group of the book Dawkins sees so designated by him "history deniers". Above all, however, he sees his work as an argumentation aid for people who recognize evolution as a scientific fact, but do not feel adequately equipped to "argue on the matter" against those who think differently. P. 16 f.
content
According to Dawkins, evidence of evolution has never been as abundant as it is today - and resistance has never been so great.
Both descend from the wolf , but artificial selection led to serious differences.
Chapters 1-3
Dawkins shows that with selection and domestication ( using the example of dog or cabbage ) strong changes in living beings can be achieved within a few centuries. In nature, however, selection takes place without the intervention of a breeder, albeit over much longer periods of time.
Dawkins countered the creationist objection that the theory of evolution was “just a theory” by pointing out that creationists had a different understanding of “theory” than scientists. Creationists would use the term in a more “colloquial” sense, p. 20 : as a pure hypothesis , speculation, conjecture or preliminary idea that is still waiting to be confirmed. Scientists, on the other hand, understand “theory” to be a hypothesis that has been confirmed or justified by observations or experiments. P. 18 f. For the sake of clarity, Dawkins coined the neologism “Theorum” for the scientific variant of the term . Pp. 20 and 22
Dawkins countered the other creationist objection that the theory of evolution was “not proven” by stating that, strictly speaking, only mathematical theorems could be proven. P. 20 f A theorum, on the other hand, can only be confirmed by evidence p. 23 - in the case of the theory of evolution by a “growing flood of evidence”, p. 173 which “never (were) more valid than today”. P. 7
Chapter 4
This section is aimed primarily at the representatives of young earth creationism who assume that the earth is not older than a few thousand years. With the dendrochronology and the radiometric dating possibilities for age determination (as of fossils ) on geological presented scales.
Chapter 5
The fact that evolution can also be observed in relatively short periods of time is explained here using guppies and bacteria in particular . Dawkins goes into the Lenski experiment in great detail .
Chapters 6–7
According to Dawkins, the question of a missing link in humans and most animal species no longer arises . Dawkins cites numerous examples of transitional forms, including extinct representatives of the genera Homo and Australopithecus and the land-living ancestors of whales , turtles, and manatees . Dawkins traces back the reference to missing links and the call of some creationists for hybrid forms between animal species living today to wrong interpretations of the theory of evolution.
Chapter 8
The embryonic and other highly complex biological structures are explained by the fact that an organism would not be formed for a specific plan. The finished body is rather a necessary sequence of local rules that work within and between the cells . Due to the long period of time that evolution had available, these sets of rules - favored by natural selection - could take on increasingly complex forms.
Chapter 9
This chapter deals with the formation of new species as a result of geographical isolation . This is demonstrated using the example of the Galápagos Islands . Plate tectonics is cited as a further cause .
Chapter 10
The appearance of the homology allows conclusions to be drawn about relationships between the species. Regardless of this, molecular biological findings coincide almost perfectly with the predictions of the theory of evolution.
Chapter 11
Also rudiments (the second pair of wings for flying , goose bumps ) give indications of the phylogenetic development. However, particular attention is paid in this chapter to the fact that many organs do not appear to be constructed in the way one would expect an intelligent designer to be. As examples, Dawkins gives the vertebrate eye , the human vas deferens or the retrograde laryngeal nerve in humans and giraffes. He also mentions the fact that the koala bear's pouch is open at the bottom, even though it lives on trees. This is explained with the descent from an animal that is similar to today's wombat and lived in caves and underground passages.
Chapter 12
This is about an evolutionary theoretical view of the theodicy problem. For Dawkins, the ubiquitous suffering in nature is at odds with a benevolent Creator . For Dawkins, however, this conflict does not exist under the premise of evolution, since evolution cannot think in terms of “good” and “bad” or in any other form .
Chapter 13
In the last section, Dawkins deals, among other things, with hypotheses about the origin of first life . Finally, he answers the question of human existence with the anthropic principle :
- “How is it that we ourselves not only exist, but are also surrounded by such complexity and elegance, by such an endless abundance of the most beautiful and wonderful forms? The answer is: Given the fact that we are even aware of our existence and ask the questions about it, it cannot be otherwise. ” P. 478
Reviews
“ The Greatest Show on Earth shows a Dawkins in top form: unambiguous, nicely arguing with fluent language. (...) Dawkins makes it clear that evolution is verifiable and has passed every test. "
“From beginning to end of his book, Dawkins argues that are easy to understand, witty, even brilliant. He writes with a passion and so personally that the thoroughly scientific book reads as excitingly as a thriller. "
“In summary, […] can be said for all potential target groups: Read this book. It makes you smarter. And it is fun."
“Intellectual passion, the art of free speech and a rousing pedagogical impetus: Richard Dawkins is not read. You experience it. And that, let it be repeated, not by reading historical novels, but by treatises on appendix valves and vortex worms. "
“And this is how Dawkins understands the task that he set himself for this book: namely, to show how the evidence for evolutionary events is intertwined, so that the rejection of evolutionary explanations of the history of life on our planet as a rather dogged one Denial becomes recognizable. "
The British author and journalist Nicholas Wade criticized one aspect in particular in his review: Dawkins' claim that evolution is a fact, a fact, contradicts the current classification in the theory of science , according to Wade . There one differentiates between facts, laws and theories. Evolution is a historical fact for which there is evidence in every living being and every fossil. But it is not a fact in the sense of the philosophy of science. While facts fundamentally (cannot) change, theories continued to develop. Since the knowledge of evolutionary principles is also subject to a - fallible - change, evolution cannot possibly be a fact from an epistemological perspective. It is true that nothing makes sense in biology without the theory of evolution, but since it is not the absolute and conclusive truth, it cannot be regarded as a fact. In addition, Wade criticized the fact that Dawkins, by implying that his opponents are "history deniers", "worse than ignorant" and "deceived to the point of perversity", he himself uses the unscientific manner which he accuses the critics of evolution.
literature
- Richard Dawkins: The Creation Lie: Why Darwin Is Right. Translated from the English by Sebastian Vogel , Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-550-08765-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Dawkins: The Lie of Creation . 2010.
- ↑ Richard Dawkins on his book "The Lie of Creation" . In: WA.de, November 8, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ↑ In the original: “The Greatest Show on Earth is Dawkins on top form: unambiguous, beautifully argued, with prose flowing like quicksilver. (...) As Dawkins makes clear, evolution is testable and has survived every test. " - Laurence D. Hurst: Showcasing the evidence for evolution . In: Nature, No. 461, p. 596, October 1, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ↑ Stefanie Reinberger: The theory of evolution as an exciting thriller . In: Spectrum of Science, June 1, 2011. Accessed September 25, 2012.
- ↑ Lennart Pyritz: The greatest show in the world . In: Spektrum.de, February 15, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ↑ Susanne Billig: About appendix valves and vortex worms . In: Deutschlandradio Kultur, November 29, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ↑ Helmut Mayer: Everything that breeds each other! . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine, Feuilleton, October 25, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ^ Nicholas Wade: Evolution All Around . In: The New York Times , October 8, 2009. Retrieved June 2020.
Remarks
- ↑ Meant is the Creation Museum in the US state of Kentucky.