Fluffy
A fool
Does anyone else come across many people who hold beliefs or say things about evolution that are clearly contrary or falicious with evolutionary theory yet are strong advocates of evolution?
Typically I come across them when I am called on to justify my vegetarianism and so I will give a couple of examples below:
1) Moral fallacies
This is the one I hear the most often. A person will advocate evolution but then use it as a basis for their morality. So for example, they will note that humans have evolved to eat meat and vegetables then come out with things like "It is unnatural to be vegetarian", "Humans are designed to eat meat", "Humans are not supposed to survive on just vegetables". These clearly contradict the theory of evolution. I can only theorise that the people who say things like this either don't understand the processes involved in evolution such as natural selection or that they simultaneously regard humans as being the result of evolution as well as apart from it.
2) Evolution has a purpose/direction or is working towards a final result
Again very common. This evidences itself in sayings like "Humans are better than animals because they are more highly evolved" or "Humans are the end product of evolution". Again I think this must be due to a feeling that humans are both part and apart from evolution.
I hear this sort of thing from a lot of people. In fact, I would say that the vast majority of people I have met who claim to believe in evolution have at some point demonstrated that they do not actually understand it. They get the basic concept of one animal turning into another but they do not seem to understand or even see the need to understand why this happens.
Typically I come across them when I am called on to justify my vegetarianism and so I will give a couple of examples below:
1) Moral fallacies
This is the one I hear the most often. A person will advocate evolution but then use it as a basis for their morality. So for example, they will note that humans have evolved to eat meat and vegetables then come out with things like "It is unnatural to be vegetarian", "Humans are designed to eat meat", "Humans are not supposed to survive on just vegetables". These clearly contradict the theory of evolution. I can only theorise that the people who say things like this either don't understand the processes involved in evolution such as natural selection or that they simultaneously regard humans as being the result of evolution as well as apart from it.
2) Evolution has a purpose/direction or is working towards a final result
Again very common. This evidences itself in sayings like "Humans are better than animals because they are more highly evolved" or "Humans are the end product of evolution". Again I think this must be due to a feeling that humans are both part and apart from evolution.
I hear this sort of thing from a lot of people. In fact, I would say that the vast majority of people I have met who claim to believe in evolution have at some point demonstrated that they do not actually understand it. They get the basic concept of one animal turning into another but they do not seem to understand or even see the need to understand why this happens.