Difference Between Natural Selection And Native American History

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The principles of natural selection are suitable a metaphor for how knowledge within a discipline is developed. Natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully proposed by Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution. It is important to keep in mind that natural selection is different from evolution as evolution is the result of natural selection. The use of this metaphor signifies that only knowledge that is favored survives to be taught to the next generation and that only the best knowledge survives. In general, knowledge can be defined as justified true belief (Ichikawa). The …show more content…

For instance, the depiction of Native American in United States history follows the principle of natural selection. In most cases, there are certainly inaccuracies in how Native Americans are portrayed in history textbooks used in schools, and how they have been regarded by society. The primary difference between the portrayal of Native American in textbooks and Native American history from the native perspective is the medium through which the history is interpreted. The portrayal of Native Americans written by historians in United States textbooks, especially for the youth, tend to be negative and dehumanizing. Historians communicate their understanding of Native American history through written narrative; whereas, Native Americans transmit their knowledge about their history through oral traditions (Wilson). The main conflict is that historians mistrust the oral tradition based on the belief that oral history needs to be validated by written sources. Historians constituates oral tradition narrated by Native Americans as unreliable sources and disregard the information; therefore, these personal and shared knowledge presented by Native Americans does not survive and are not passed on to the future generation, which follows the principles of natural selection. Historians perceive that Native American history has to do with perceptions of what constitutes important information, whereas, Native Americans believes that their history is significant for the reason that it establishes their sense of identity and belonging (Wilson). Historians merely provide the flawed information describing how Native Americans fought against white settlers. History textbooks in United States rarely take into consideration the numerous Nations not even written into history books because they were peaceful and had

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