Re: [asa] Evangelicals, Evolution, and Academics Introduction now available

Since I am being invoked and criticized in this thread ....
 
Gregory Arago wrote:
----------------------------------------
"Harvey’s definitions, which I’ve read, says that “evolve really is used as
a synonym for change.” This is the definition I’m challenging, following in
the footsteps of other sociologists, e.g. A. Giddens and P. Sztompka (both
renowned and not minor players, one in England, advisor to Tony Blair, the
other was President of the ISA). Harvey says E1 is “clearly no problem.” I’m
saying he’s missing the bigger picture. Thus, Harvey’s definition needs to be
updated; evolution is not and should not be (whoa, naturalistic fallacy)
claimed synonymous with ‘change.’ He is wrong to perpetuate the total
evolutionistic (TE) fallacy."
---------------------------------------
 
To start on the same page, this is something from "Chapter 5" of my online
"course" here:
_http://members.aol.com/steamdoc/sci-nature/_
(http://members.aol.com/steamdoc/sci-nature/)
I hope if Gregory were to read the whole chapter, rather than one excerpt,
he would recognize that he has misunderstood me.
 
What Gregory seems to have missed is the fact that in this section where he
thinks I am advocating a position he abhors, I am writing DESCRIPTIVELY, not
prescriptively.
 
My whole point in this part of the essay is that the word "evolution" is
used in many different ways, and that it is important in discussion to be clear
on what one means when that word is used. I should think Gregory would be
standing up and applauding me at this point, because he so constantly harps on
people's failure to define exactly what they mean by the word (even in cases
where the context makes it pretty clear to others that biological evolution
is meant).
 
My meaning E-1 is simply describing a fact of English usage. It is
undeniable that the word "evolution" is sometimes used in English to describe simply
"change over time" with no implication of Darwinian mechanisms -- we might
talk about the evolution of a weather system or the evolution of symptoms as
one goes through a disease. Gregory may not like that usage of the word (which
I believe is the original English meaning, from long before Darwin), and I
am not particularly advocating it, but one will find that meaning in the
dictionary and it is a fact that the usage happens. Recognizing this English
usage does not imply endorsement of any particular metaphysics; it is just
another reason to be clear about our meanings when we use the word.
 
Gregory has also misunderstood my "clearly no problem" with regard to this
meaning E-1. I was NOT saying that the USAGE is "no problem". While I don't
find that English usage as objectionable as Gregory apparently does, usage is
simply not at all what I was talking about at that point. The context of
this chapter is biological evolution and whether or not it is a threat to
Christian faith. My statements about the degree to which meanings E-1 to E-6
might be a "problem" do not refer to whether the usage is problematic, but to
whether the concept being described by the usage (whatever words might be used)
should be a problem for Christian theology. So in saying E-1 "should be no
problem" I was simply saying that the idea that life on earth has changed over
time in and of itself "should be no problem" for Christians. The other
meanings starting with E-2 begin to talk about aspects of how that change over
time may have happened (common ancestry, Darwinian mechanisms, etc.), and some
of those concepts can be more of a "problem" for some Christians.
 
I hope that clears up the confusion.
 
Allan
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
"Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
attributed to my employer, my wife, or my cat"

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Received on Mon May 19 10:55:56 2008