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Have you actually read it?

PostPosted: November 4th, 2006, 10:37 am
by robsia

PostPosted: November 5th, 2006, 2:38 pm
by jo
I've read some of it, not all. I am for evolution but I didn't vote as I can't honestly say 'I have read it' but at the same time, like I said, I have read some of it :).

Re: Have you actually read it?

PostPosted: November 5th, 2006, 5:39 pm
by Kolbitar
I, being agnostic on the issue and having never, myself, read Darwins work, never the less lean toward being for evolution based on what I know and what I was taught (though I remember very little). However, though I tend toward evolution I emphatically stand against Darwins conception of our origins in so far as it makes the difference of man and animal merely one of degree and not of kind -- a conception, by the way, which he notes in The Descent of Man.

PostPosted: November 5th, 2006, 7:04 pm
by David Jack
I take it we're talking about human evolution, since as far as I'm aware the process has actually been seen at work among the lower forms of life.

I'm not sure if humans evolved or not and haven't read the literature on either side. It's not a huge issue for me at the moment as it's quite peripheral in terms of the outliving of my faith. when i have more time and energy i will probably look into it for curiosity's sake.

PostPosted: November 5th, 2006, 9:25 pm
by jo
Dave I remember when you and I and Antti went round that dinosaur exhibit at Blackpool tower which spoke of the origins of the earth, you once or twice looked fairly doubtful :D

PostPosted: November 6th, 2006, 12:16 am
by Robert

PostPosted: November 6th, 2006, 1:29 am
by Leslie

PostPosted: November 6th, 2006, 2:56 am
by David Jack

PostPosted: November 6th, 2006, 4:41 am
by Adam

PostPosted: November 7th, 2006, 8:40 pm
by Pastafarian
I see evolution as being as close to fact as an explanation can get. I haven't read The Origin of Species, though.

I'm quite the dilettante in this area, but I don't think The Origin of Species broke the news on evolution. I think it broke the news on natural selection. In fact, the real title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. I think evolution was a well-known process by the time The Origin of Species was published.

I just searched the text of the book...
http://www.literature.org/authors/darwi ... f-species/
...and I only found only one mention of any form of the word "evolve." It's not "evolution." It's "evolved," and it's the last word in the book.

PostPosted: November 7th, 2006, 8:59 pm
by jo

PostPosted: November 8th, 2006, 4:38 am
by hana
I've read the book, but only because I was assigned it in school, so small glory to me. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, though.

I do believe in a good deal of Darwinian evolution, but I also take Genesis 1-3 as more than allegory; ie, I do believe God made man out of dust.

Is Darwin's work the "Bible" of evolutionists still?

Has anyone else read David Quammen? (Natural Acts, The Song of the Dodo)

PostPosted: November 8th, 2006, 4:49 am
by Pastafarian

PostPosted: November 8th, 2006, 6:26 am
by wingedllama
I have not read the book, but I would like to someday. I've learned about natural selection in school and in other books, and have always been convinced of it.

I don't at all feel that evolution threatens my faith. I believe that science and religion ask different questions about the cosmos, and properly understood they do not conflict.

PostPosted: November 8th, 2006, 10:43 pm
by David Jack