Ernst Mayr's What Evolution Is
When Ernst Mayr published his book, What Evolution Is, in 2001 it was hailed as a work of genius. The praise, replete with superlatives, ranged from "elegant, enthralling, and provocative" to "clear, comprehensive, and very informative".1 From all appearances it intended to be the theory of evolution offered up to the common man for general consumption and enlightenment; it was what would put the evolution/creationism debate to rest once and for all. It neither fulfilled its own goals nor lived up to the acclaim received from the intellectual establishment.
In order to assess the success of Mayr's book as a book for the people, it is necessary to examine just who these "people" are. Certainly scientists would understand and agree with this book, but they do not need this pop- culture version of evolution; they can find what they need in giant volumes with complex scientific writing. Those within liberal intellectual society would agree with evolution and the premise of this book, although some would base this assertion more on a knowledge of scientific fact while others would choose the argument of 'that's just the way it is'. The latter is neither useful nor compelling: Mayr does not need to convince this sector of the population. For them, he wants to explain evolution; the dubiousness of this success is explained in Mayr's mention of scientific theories, etc. without further explanation or discussion. That leaves the sizable portion of the population which is not part of the scientific elite and does not subscribe to "liberal" values, but instead to more traditional views. While Mayr supposes to be the common man's evolutionist, he and his arguments inhabit an entirely different plane of ...
... middle of paper ...
...t Evolution Is on the back cover of the paperback version
2. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm - 2/19/04
3. I have consciously chosen to refer to the South as one entity. This is not because I suppose that everyone in this region holds these views, but instead I understand that there exists a certain prevailing discourse which, not surprisingly, is controlled by those in positions of relative authority: pastors, teachers, elected officials, school curriculum committees, parents of school children, county commissions, etc.
4. Georgia Board of Education Website, www.doe.k12.ga.us , 2/20/04
5. I do not suggest that all literature, science or otherwise, should be "dumbed down" in order to be assessable by all of the population. I chose address Mayr in this manner simply because of the fanfare which has surrounded this book.
What The South Intends. THE CHRISTIAN RECORDERS August 12, 1865, Print. James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer.
...y captures the South and the aspects that it holds dear and appeals to both people of the North and South alike through accurate and descriptive examples of Southern culture. Dixie embodied the start of the South and some agriculture aspects persist today, yet through industrialization the Southeast has changed from Dixie’s rural land to urban areas of growth. Cultural South continues to shape the current attitudes and values that are exhibited in many residents who are proud of their background and are satisfied with its current ideas and cultures. While the South heralds from traditional values and institutions, Dixie, Southeast, and Cultural South have been blended together to form what we today consider the South.
"Charles Darwin: The Father of Evolution." Darwin1. University of Missouri, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
In American culture, the South has more or less been stereotyped and degraded in various ways, which naturally brings about a sense of defensiveness. The southerners stick together to defe...
Part of the mythology every schoolchild in the United States learns…is that the colony of Virginia achieved quick prosperity upon the basis of slaves and tobacco. Thus, “the South” is assumed to have existed as an initial settlement, with little change until the cataclysm of the Civil War in 1861.
Of all the areas with which the southerners contended, the socio-political arena was probably their strongest. It is in this area that they had history and law to support their assertions. With the recent exception of the British, the slave trade had been an integral part of the economies of many nations and the slaves were the labor by which many nations and empires attained greatness. Souther...
Bowler, Peter J. Evolution: The History of an Idea. London: University of California Press, 1989.
Darwin: A Norton Critical Edition, Second Edition ; ed. by Philip Appleman; copyright 1979, 1970 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Anyone with even a moderate background in science has heard of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. Since the publishing of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, Darwin’s ideas have been debated by everyone from scientists to theologians to ordinary lay-people. Today, though there is still severe opposition, evolution is regarded as fact by most of the scientific community and Darwin’s book remains one of the most influential ever written.
In the book “Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy,” the authors relay the general information concerning the history of violence in video games as well as the beginning of the issue of violence in video games (Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley 2007). They state that it was “during the 1990s that violent games truly
The problem of immigration has been a controversial issue in the United States, particularly the issue of illegal immigration. Therefore, immigration can be defined as the act of immigrating/moving to another country, meaning that one moves to another nation, where he or she was not born, or where he or she is not a native of; thereby, using the new nation as a permanent residence either legally or illegally. Therefore, this essay presents that immigration (both legal and illegal) is good and leads various benefits to a nation, including fostering economic growth, contribute to labor markets, and contributes to taxes as well as social contributions; though, it can sometimes harm
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
Charles Darwin has had the greatest influence on the world by proving the evolution of living things. Charles Darwin had first noticed the similarities of plants and animals when he took a five-year cruise on the H.M.S. Beagle, which was available to him through a friend from school. During the cruise Charles Darwin started becoming interested with the similarities between the plants and animals that were similar on different islands with similar climates, so he decided to study them more closely.
People of a nation could be forced out of their native land because of conflict, escape from persecution due to crimes or voluntarily based on personal desires and objectives. On the other hand, people could migrate to a more developed country in search of greener pastures so as to better their living. Many developing countries are currently facing devastating economic challenges resulting from the revolutionized framework of globalization and many other unfavorable policies and regulations. Such problems trigger frustration and pressure on citizens forcing them to flee to other countries with better economic standards so as to meet their needs comfortably. An important step a country should undertake to minimize migration levels is to tackle poverty and development issues.
In recent years, many technological advancements have led to a new form of entertainment for society. One of the soaring forms of this entertainment is video games. While the sale of games continue to rise at a drastic rate, game designers and the media focus the public's attention on violent video games, since it seems to currently be to the more attractive type of game, not only among the public, but the gaming industries as well. As these games become increasingly popular, there has been an abundance of researchers and health officials that say that such games result in increased violence among juveniles. Many believe that violent video games cause behavioral problems and therefore increase crime rate and violence among youth; however, research has shown that some of these studies are inaccurate because they do not effectively measure aggression and that these games can contribute in a positive way.