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Confronting Myths
Knowledge of the About Evolution
Past Is Possible & Scientific Methods
R O B E R T A. C O O P E R
428 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 64, NO. 6, AUGUST 2002
knowledge is established with absolute certainty questions in geology and biogeography. Geologist
(Duschl, 1988). Furthermore, scientism implies that the James Hutton (1726-1797) made observations of
certainty and reliability of knowledge in any field must processes occurring in nature around him and used
be judged by the degree to which that discipline adopts those observations to interpret the events of the past
scientific methodology (usually meaning methods mod- (Eldredge, 2000). Building on Hutton’s work, Charles
eled after those of experimental physics and chemistry). Lyell (1797-1875) wrote the influential three-volume
work Principles of Geology in which he stressed Hutton’s
By the 1950s, a new group of philosophers and his-
principle of the uniformity of geological processes over
torians began to look at the way scientists actually went
time and also the idea that the gradual accumulation of
about their work and found that many scientists do not
small changes can, over long periods of time, lead to
conform to the rules of method and patterns of reason-
large-scale change (Eldredge, 2000). Darwin read, and
ing set down in most science textbooks (Duschl, 1985,
was greatly influenced by, Lyell’s Principles. In his auto-
1990). The national standards documents reflect these
biography, Darwin wrote, “After my return to England
more recent developments in the history and philoso-
[from the voyage of the Beagle] it appeared to me that by
phy of science. As described by the national standards
following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by col-
documents, there is a variety of methods used by scien-
lecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation
tists. Among these methods are some that enable scien-
of animals and plants under domestication and nature,
tists to address questions about historical events. The
some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole sub-
goals described in the standards documents will not be
ject” (Darwin, 1876/1958, p. 119). Thus the develop-
achieved with existing instructional tools and approach-
ment of methods for studying historical events culmi-
es. Textbooks must be revised to more accurately reflect
nated in the work of Charles Darwin, whose Origin of
more current views of the nature of science and scien-
Species is the most influential book in biology, as well as
tific methods. Included among the methods addressed
one of the most influential in history (Mayr, 2000). In
in textbooks should be the methods first developed in
the Origin Darwin applied patterns of reasoning similar
the 18th and 19th centuries to study historical events.
to Lyell’s in order to establish the plausibility of natural
selection as a cause of large-scale evolutionary change.
Methods for Studying Darwin was, above all, a methodologist who
Evolutionary History showed the generations of historical scientists who fol-
lowed how to proceed in order to scientifically investi-
Scientists who attempt to reconstruct the history of gate historical processes like evolution (Ghiselin, 1969;
life, the Earth’s geologic features, or the cosmos rarely Gould, 1986; Kitcher, 1993). According to Kitcher
perform the controlled experiments that textbooks (1993), the originality of Darwin’s thesis in the Origin of
describe, and their theories do not conform to the struc- Species is the development of explanatory strategies
ture of theories as described by the empiricists. Yet, the aimed at answering families of important biological
conclusions they reach are no less reliable and no less questions by applying Darwinian histories, descriptions
scientific than those arrived at by performing controlled of the probable historical events that led to the emer-
experiments. They typically construct narrative descrip- gence of some structure or function presently observed
tions of sequences of events that are consistent with in an organism. Kitcher (1993) argued that Darwin pro-
available evidence. To be testable, the narrative must vided a means for answering questions about biogeog-
also suggest additional evidence that should, or should raphy, comparative anatomy, embryology, and adapta-
not be, found if the story is correct. The work of histor- tion. The Origin is an extended argument that illustrates
ical scientists is similar to that of experimental scientists how Darwinian histories employ the concepts of
in its reliance on logical explanation, empirical evi- descent with modification and natural selection to pro-
dence, parsimony, and many other characteristics that vide a single coordinating explanation for then out-
are shared by the various sciences (Smith & standing problems in each of these areas of biology.
Scharmann, 1999)1. However, because the historical sci-
Darwinian histories necessarily involve incomplete
ences deal with phenomena that are unique and unre-
information about past events. History can never be
peatable in all of their details, they rely less on the veri-
recovered in all of its detail, yet based on a broad range
fication of hypotheses through controlled experiments.
of observations of the current state of affairs, one can
Recognition of the fact that historical events can be find evidence to either support or refute a hypothetical
the object of scientific study began to emerge in the late historical narrative. For example, in the Origin, Darwin
18th and early 19th centuries related to then emerging asked, Why are the endemic species of Galapagos
1
For interesting discussions of the methods and problems of historical sciences in the context of the dinosaur extinc-
tion controversy see Alvarez (1997) and Powell (1998).
430 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 64, NO. 6, AUGUST 2002
Darwin, that the panda’s “thumb,” and other similar by Whewell to denote this principle is consilience. In
examples of functional but imperfect structures were aphorism XIV of his Novum Organon Renovatum,
produced by the historical process of descent with mod- Whewell (1858/1968) wrote: “The Consilience of
ification and not separately created (Gould, 1980). Inductions takes place when an Induction, obtained
from one class of facts, coincides with an Induction,
obtained from another different class. This Consilience
Consilience - Evidence From is a test of the truth of the Theory in which it occurs”
Many Sources (pp. 138-139). Ruse (1998) argued that: “[Consilience]
is a method used constantly in science, and a mark that
If we focus singly on only a few oddities like the the work has been well done. Convergence on a com-
panda’s thumb, or on the available hypothetical fossil mon principle convinces us that we have moved
sequences, the case for evolution may seem very weak. beyond coincidence. … Darwin endorsed Whewell’s
In order to appreciate the overwhelming strength of the ideas entirely, and the Origin offers a textbook example
support for evolution, one must simultaneously con- of a consilience” (pp. 2-3). In the Origin, Darwin
sider all of the evidence from many different sources. amassed many independent lines of evidence from arti-
Darwin lamented the fact that few scientists in his day ficial breeding, biogeography, comparative anatomy,
understood this. In a letter to Hooker written in 1861, embryology, and paleontology, all of which point to the
Darwin wrote: “Change of species cannot be directly same conclusion: that descent with modification by
proved… the doctrine must sink or swim according as it natural selection surely has occurred. Add to Darwin’s
groups and explains phenomena. It is really curious evidence the additional fossil finds that have accumu-
how few judge it in this way, which is clearly the right lated since 1859, the many field and laboratory studies
way” (quoted in Gould, 1986, p. 65). Judging from the of natural selection, and the homologies in molecular
ongoing evolution-creation debates, it would seem that sequences and the conclusion that Darwin was correct
there are still very few people who understand is inescapable.
Darwin’s argument.
Public debates over evolutionary claims, such as the Conclusions & Implications
emergence of Homo sapiens from ancestral hominids,
often reflect this failure to understand the pattern of rea- Science is understood by the public in terms of
soning necessary for establishing support for claims in symbols and myths that perpetuate a view of science as
historical sciences. When the combined weight of all of a method of establishing absolutely certain knowledge
the evidence is taken into account, the evolution of life through experiment (McComas, 1998; Toumey, 1996).
through descent with modification is considered to be Capitalizing on this widespread public misconception,
one of the most reliable conclusions of modern science. creationists typically argue that both evolution and cre-
This is not to say that scientists who rely on historical ationism are unscientific because neither can be
evidence can establish their conclusions with absolute ‘proven’ by a controlled experiment. This widespread
certainty. Since they have incomplete information misunderstanding of science prevents many from
about the past, their conclusions must always remain appreciating the power of evolutionary theories to
tentative. However, absolutely certain conclusions do explain adaptations of living things as well as life’s unity
not emerge in the experimental sciences either. All sci- and diversity. Furthermore, misunderstandings about
entific interpretations of evidence must be held tenta- the nature of historical sciences prevent many from
tively. Both the historical sciences and the experimental understanding that in a system where genealogical and
sciences establish increasing levels of confidence in the phylogenetic relationships exist between elements, his-
conclusions they reach by seeking many independent tory must be part of the causal explanation for the cur-
lines of evidence that all point to the same conclusion. rent state of the system. The solution to this problem is
This is why, in the experimental sciences, independent to change the way textbooks portray scientific methods
replication of experiments is desirable. When many and bring the texts into line with the recommendations
independently conducted experiments all point to the of the national standards documents.
same conclusion, scientists have more confidence in the
Textbooks should more clearly and completely
conclusion. Ruse (1998) likens this character of science
address the diversity of scientific methods in that first
to the use of circumstantial evidence in a court of law.
chapter. Descriptions of successful studies in historical
William Whewell, a 19th century British philoso- disciplines should be included in addition to the stan-
pher and historian of science, was the first to clearly dard experimental studies in order to demonstrate for
articulate the fundamental principle that independent students that reliable knowledge of life’s history can be
lines of evidence all pointing to the same conclusion obtained. For example, Margulis’ SET or the develop-
allow scientists to claim increasing confidence in that ment of the impact theory to explain the mass extinc-
conclusion (Gould, 1986; Ruse, 1998). The term used tion at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary could be used
432 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 64, NO. 6, AUGUST 2002