Problems With Darwinism
Rather than the theory of evolution, we should speak of several theories of evolution. On the one hand, this plurality has to do with the different explanations advanced for the mechanism of evolution, and on the other, with the various philosophies on which it is based Hence the existence of materialist, reductionist and spiritualist interpretations. What is to be decided here is the true role of philosophy and, beyond it, of theology. -- Pope John Paul II, "Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution," Oct. 22, 1996
Imagine you are the first astronaut to step out of a spaceship and set foot on the planet Mars. A short distance away you see three stones about the size of basketballs, spaced evenly apart in a straight line. They attract your attention, but only for a moment, because the line probably is -- indeed must be -- due to chance and means nothing.
Suppose, however, that there are nine such stones, spaced evenly apart, in a perfectly straight line. Do you still attribute the line they form to chance? Suppose, then, that from the stone at each end of the fine, two other straight lines of stones run off at right angles, and that these lines are connected by still another line, so that the whole set of fines forms a square. Now imagine that every stone on the edge of the square is connected to the stone on the opposite edge by a straight line of stones, so that the result is a checkerboard formed by stones. Can you still believe this is a matter of chance?
A certain type of mind is capable of saying yes, because it believes that the whole universe and all living beings in it came to be by random variations in matter and "natural selection." Those living beings that survived were the ones that by chance were best adapted for survival. Anything can happen if we allow X00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000+ years for it to happen.
That there is random variation in the universe, and an enormous amount of it, is undeniable. Every human being now alive got here against the odds, because so many contingencies had to happen before any one of us could come into being. Most of what occurred in natural and human history could have turned out differently than it did.
But does that lead to the conclusion that we can explain the world and the creatures living in it by mere contingency? That is the question, and the only question, that I am raising here. I am not denying the evolution of species or contending for a literal interpretation of the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis. Nor am I even arguing here that evolution requires an intelligent and purposeful Creator. Those are valid and interesting issues, but they are not the issue I am addressing here. If there has been an evolution of all life forms from an original one, whatever the correct explanation of that process may be, I am asking only whether chance variation and natural selection can be an adequate explanation of that whole process. That living creatures can and do adapt themselves to changes in their environment is clear enough, but not that the entire living world can be explained in this way.
If it cannot, I do not mean to offer an alternative explanation, nor do I see why I must do so. The Darwinist theory of evolution either explains it satisfactorily or it does not. If it does not, then some other explanation is needed, and other persons more competent than I may (or may not) provide it. I want only to raise a question that is not biblical or theological or scientific, but metaphysical: Does Darwinism violate the principle that effects cannot exceed their causes or, conversely, that causes must be adequate to the effects they produce?
At least part of the stubborn insistence that Darwinism must be the correct explanation of evolution is, I suspect, that it is the only one that materialists will accept. There have been materialist philosophies ever since the rise of philosophy in ancient Greece. But they have gained in force since the rise of modern science in the 16th and 17th centuries. A couple of passage