Re: Debate with Moorad

Stephen F. Schaffner (sschaff@SLAC.Stanford.EDU)
Mon, 02 Nov 1998 13:32:48 -0800 (PST)

Burgy wrote:

> I meant "evolution-in-the-full-sense" to specifically include
> abiogenesis, of course, and not any particular theory. In particular, I
> do not
> include in it the theory of common descent.

I think you would be better off coming up with a new name for your
concept then, since it specifically includes abiogenesis, which is not
normally included by biologists' use of the term (if I understand their
usage correctly), and need include (as far as I can tell) nothing at all
that _is_ normally covered by their usage. I think most biologists would
be rather puzzled if, say, you told them that common descent and
descent with modification were both falsifiable, but that evolution
was not.

Regards,

Steve Schaffner
sschaff@slac.stanford.edu