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Sarah Schnellbacher's picture

Evaluating Darwinism vs Theory of Evolution

I agree that we can't throw out information we have learned in other courses. In a scientific sense modern information is actually much more poignant than focusing only on what was understood during the Victorian Era. If we are choosing to read Darwin as a contemporary individual, then it is necessary to disregard our current knowledge of genetics, radiometric dating techniques, etc. as these sources were unavailable to Victorians, but if we are trying to focus on the Theory of Evolution rather than just Darwinism, we should employ the use of modern day support for the theory. I think that our professors are imploring us to consider how Darwinism and Theory of Evolution differ rather than asking us to ignore all of our current knowledge as it pertains to Evolution. In the Victorian Era these two terms may have been synonymous; however, today they have diverged into two separate ideas from Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

 

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