The following is a clearinghouse of articles which refer to terms often used in the context of the Creation-evolution Controversy :
See Also: Origin beliefs
The Creation-evolution Controversy often is cast as a controversy surrounding the Origin Beliefs . The following articles explain the basic terms endemic to this:
See Also: evolution
The term ''evolution'' is often invoked by creationists to represent Science in general, or specifically the Scientific Theories that are seen as directly opposing Creationism . Additionally, the following terms related to evolution are often referred to:
- Microevolution , to describe the evolutionary processes that most creationists do believe have occurred and are occurring.
- Macroevolution , to describe the evolutionary processes that most creationists do not believe have occurred and will not occur.
- Modern Synthesis , to describe the modern evolutionary paradigm of evolutionary biology (sometimes called ''NeoDarwinism'' by the creationists).
- Evolutionism , to describe any number of philosophical beliefs based on the theory of evolution.
- Darwinism is often referred to as a synonym for evolutionism, or when appended with the suffix "neo" it is used to describe current mainstream evolutionary biology.
- Lamarckism is an alternative to Darwinian evolution that suggested traits acquired during an organism's lifetime were inherited by offspring.
- Devolution is a concept that arises from fallaciously equating evolution with progress, a mistake made by certain students of Herbert Spencer . Creationists have been known to attack evolution by claiming that the Spencer ideal of " Survival Of The Fittest " is an immoral marker of modernism as a precursor of Social Darwinism .
- The general principle of Self Organization explains how observed processes can allow for the natural development of Complex and Ordered features.
- '' The Origin Of Species '' is the book that is considered the groundbreaking work that established the theory of evolution scientifically. Its publication and adoption by the mainstream community is seen by creationists as the beginning of the controversy.
See Also: Natural history
The controversy often takes the tone of creationists attacking various aspects of Natural History (or ''evolution'', within this context) with proponents of mainstream science claiming that there is evidence and theoretical infrastructure in sufficient amounts to answer creationist claims. The following disciplines and observations often appear in the context of the controversy:
See Also: Physical cosmology
See Also: Geology
The following subjects are often criticised by creationists:
See Also: Evolutionary Biology
By far the most often attacked scientific discipline by creationists is evolutionary biology, including the related subjects of:
- Common Descent
- Abiogenesis and Chemical Evolution research associated with it such as the Miller-Urey Experiment
- Timeline Of Evolution , which is often completely rejected by creationists, who also refer to:
- Cambrian Explosion , claimed by creationists as a Paradox that shows evolution is incorrect.
- Mass Extinctions , often claimed by creationists to be instead due to the Flood described in Genesis .
- Evidence Of Evolution , which is generally rejected or dismissed by creationists. This includes:
- Phylogeny and its associated subfields of
- Cladistics
- Phenetics
- Molecular Phylogeny , based on either:
- Maximum Likelihood
- Bayesian Inference
- Phylogenetics and the development of the Trees that relate life biologically:
- Phylogenetic Tree
- Evolutionary Tree
- Bioinformatics
- Morphology and the structural applications including:
- Homologous Structures
- Analogous Structures
- Vestigal Organs
- Speciation , which is either suggested to have never occurred or is suggested to be limited and unable to account for the complete Diversity Of Life , including such mechanisms as:
- Allopatric Speciation
- Sympatric Speciation
- Peripatric Speciation and the special case of
- Punctuated Equilibrium .
- Heredity , which is claimed by creationists to be unable to account for evolution, including:
- Epigenetic Inheritance
- Structural Inheritance
- Pangenesis , often completely dismissed.
- Gene Pool
- Mutations , which are often claimed by creationists to be strictly harmful to the Genome . Some mutations generally considered to be strong evidence for evolution are:
- Pseudogenes
- Junk DNA
- Gene Flow
- Genetic Drift
- Extinction
- Natural Selection , which is rejected by creationists as an impossible mechanism including its associated types:
- Ecological Selection
- Sexual Selection
- Positive Selection
- Balancing Selection
- Overdominance / Heterozygote Advantage
- Frequency-dependent Selection
- Stabilizing Selection
- Directional Selection
- Disruptive Selection
- Adaptation , which is rejected by creationists as a mechanism for evolution. Though normally instances of adaptation observed are not considered problematic to the creationists worldview including:
- Maladaptation
- Acclimation
See Also: Creationism
- History Of Creationism outlines its development
- Creation According To Genesis explains on what basis most creationists rely to explain their beliefs. This includes
- Dating Creation
- Global Flood
- Young-Earth Creationism is a creationist conceit that relies on a 6000 year old Earth and universe. Associated with it are:
- Flat Earth Creationism — the belief once held by such creationists (perhaps no longer since the death of Charles Johnson in 1991 ) that the Earth is not spherical.
- Modern Geocentrism — the belief held by a small minority of such creationists that the Earth is the physical center of the universe.
- Creation Science — the program of research that attempts to provide scientific justification for creationism. Including the areas of:
- Creationist Cosmologies — made by various creationists in order to explain the
- Starlight Problem — the fact that astronomical objects are measured to be billions of light years away, inconsistent with an age of the universe on the order of ten thousand years. One proposal that has largely fallen out-of-favor with creationists is
- C-decay
- Radiohalo es — taken by at least one creationist to be evidence for a young Earth.
- Flood Geology , as a replacement for geology. This includes a proposing mechanisms for a global flood:
- Vapor Canopy
- Catastrophic Plate Tectonics
- Hydroplates
- Creation Biology as a replacement for evolutionary biology. This includes its replacement for phylogeny:
- Created Kinds
- Baraminology
- Omphalos Creationism is creationist conceit that in one form claims that the scientific evidence that doesn't support creationism is a result of the action of the Devil .
- Old-Earth Creationism is a creationist conceit that takes issue with evolutionary biology, but accepts geology and cosmology. This type of creationism comes in three kinds:
- Gap Creationism is the belief that there was a gap in the text of Genesis that allows for a long timescale.
- Day-age Creationism is the belief that the "days" referred to in Genesis are really longer periods of time (up to billions of years).
- Progressive Creationism is the belief that the timeframes need to be reconciled to a biblical account, but that lifeforms are created specially by God.
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- Neo-Creationism is a form of creationism that aims to re-frame the debate over the origins of life in non-religious terms to appeal to the public, policy makers, educators, and the scientific community. It also claims that orthodox science is actually a dogmatically atheistic religion. In the United States Intelligent Design is the most visible form of neo-creationism.
- Islamic Creationism
- Judaism And Evolution
- Hindu Creationism
See Also: Intelligent design
Intelligent design is a relatively new proposal that claims there is teleological evidence that can be observed in nature. Related issues include:
See Also: Philosophy of science
Arguments are sometimes taken from subjects within the philosophy of science. These include:
See Also: Philosophy of religion
Arguments are sometimes taken from subjects within the philosophy of religion. These include:
- Religion And Science and Faith And Rationality
- Natural Theology
- Theology
- Fideism — the belief that faith is the only justification needed for one's religion. This is often seen as being directly in conflict with creationist ideas that the one can make sensory observations that confirm one's religion.
- Apologetics and Evangelism — the practices of certain religious people who are intent on providing justification and conversion opportunities to their respective faith. The controversy is sometimes claimed by creationists to be an opportunity for this.
- Theistic Realism vs. Philosophical Naturalism — the creation-evolution controversy can be summarized philosophically as a dispute between those two perspectives.
- Modernism vs. Antimodernism — an allusion to issues facing contemporary religions about how to accommodate the modern world. Sometimes the creationist are accused of being the latter.
- Biblical Literalism and Fundamentalism — often claimed to be the basis of creationism.
- Theism vs. Atheism / Agnosticism — often claimed by creationists to be the real conflict behind the controversy.
- Deism — a perspective that allows for a first cause deity that doesn't act in history. A popular position of Enlightenment scientists.
- Scientism — a quasi-religion that developed in the Nineteenth Century which sought to elevate scientific understanding to the status of an idea to be worshipped. Creationists have been known to criticize evolution as being scientistic.
See Also: Creation-evolution controversy
The controversy itself occurs in the public arena, most visibly in the United States. It has been especially noticeable in the context of:
Sides in the controversy try to enumerate their supporters:
Specific criticisms of creationist tactics include:
- Appeal To Authority , especially related to certain creationists who have questionable academic credentials.
- Argument From Ignorance , an Informal Fallacy claimed to be a major tactic employed by creationists when they attempt to cast doubt on modern science.
- Asserting Guilt By Association . In particular, creationists are known to criticize evidence for Human Evolution because of the famous Piltdown Man hoax with the implicit message that major paleontological discoveries about hominid evolution are frauds.
- Bad Science . Some of the work of creationists are criticized by their opponents as being based on shoddy research or poor scientific understanding.
- Naturalistic Fallacy , a fallacy related to the Is-ought Problem that critics claim is employed by creationists whenever they argue that evolution is wrong because it inspires Immorality . (For example, creationists often claim that the moral issues surrounding Social Darwinism and Eugenics cast doubt on evolutionary biology.)
- PRATT Lists , the tactic of listing a large number of questionable claims which are made more difficult to refute by their sheer quantity.
- Quote Mining as a means to promote the idea that there is active controversy over "evolution" in the scientific community.
- Straw Men , which misrepresent the theory of evolution in order to make it appear more easily refuted than it actually is. (For example, a common straw man about evolution is the claim that it includes an ultimate goal.)
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