Transcript RiChard dawkins vs. stephen jay gould

RICHARD DAWKINS VS.
STEPHEN JAY GOULD:
Pioneering
Thoughts in
Evolution and
Natural
Selection
ACCEPTANCE OF THE THEORY
 Gallup Polls from 1980 -2000s
 Only 55% of people in America accept the theory of evolution as true
 45% agree that a higher power “created human beings pretty much in
their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.”
“Evolution could easily be disproved if just a single fossil turned up in
the wrong date order. Evolution has passed with flying colors”
- Richard Dawkins
EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTION
 The Theory of Evolution:
 Scientific theory based on fact and observation that explains the
biological change in populations over time.
 Natural Selection:
 Process in which specific traits become more or less common in a
population. This results in evolution (survival of the fittest)
 Four components:




More offspring are produced that can survive
Offspring exhibit variation – some of which is inheritable
Competition for access to resources
Variation leads to differential survival and reproduction
DAWKINS VS. GOULD
 Stephen Jay Gould
 Paleontologist, Evolutionary
 Evolutionary Biologist,Ethologist,
Biologist, Historian of Science,
Advocate for Atheism, and
and Author (Ever Since Darwin,
Author
(The God Delusion,
Ontogeny and Phylogeny)
Climbing Mount Improbable)
 Believes there are are more
 Believes that natural selection
theories other than natural
explains every observation in
selection that explain
evolutionary biology
evolution.
 Richard Dawkins
SOURCE #1
“Gould and God” by Jerry A. Coyne
 Observes the personal views of both Richard Dawkins and
Stephen Jay Gould
 Focuses mostly on Gould’s beliefs and work
 Gould believes that evolutionary processes today are dif ferent
than the evolutionary processes that gave rise start to the rise
of life on Earth
 Coyne, Jerry A . “Gould and God.” Nature 433.6934 (2003):
813-4. ProQuest Research Library. PROQUESTMS. 14 Nov.
2012
SOURCE #2
“Evolutionary Thought in America” edited by
Stow Persons
 Collection of lectures delivered at an undergraduate conference
of the American Civilization Program at Princeton University
 Used to get a better understanding of evolution and natural
selection
 Includes articles such as “The Rise and Impact of Evolutionary
Ideas” by Robert Scoon, “Evolution in it’s Relation to the
Philosophy of Nature” by F.S.C Nothrop, and “The Genetic Nature
of Differences Among Men” by Theodosius Dobzhansky.
 Per sons, Stow. And Princeton Univer sity. Program of Study in American
Civilization. Evolutiona r y Thought in America /[Edited for the special
program in American Civilization at Princeton Univer sity] Yale Univer sity
Press, New Haven: 1950
SOURCE #3
“Dawkins Vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest” by
Kim Sterelny
 Looks deeper into the dif ferences in Dawkins’ and Gould’s
ideas and past the main controversy
 Examines the impact of both biologists’ deep -rooted personal
beliefs and the influence they both have on society
 “Can selection happen for a species as a whole or does it only
af fect individuals?”
 Gould’s invention of “extrapolationsim”
 Sterelny, Kim. Dawkins Vs. Gould: Sur vival of the Fittest. New
York: Totem Books, 2001 . Print.
RESEARCH QUESTION
How do the ideas of Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay
Gould differ, and what influence do they have on the
scientific community?
Thank you for listening.
Questions?