Evolution1*

--evolution seems (according to many thinkers) to deepen the reductionist, materialist, and

determinist tenor of the scientific revolution.   We want to see how.

--fixed species:  Aristotle and the Bible

--each species of plant and animal had its own essential nature

--world is 6000 years old.  Same species all through time.  In that

sense, no change.

--this view started to come apart in the 1800s

a) recognition (Lyell) that there had been vast geological changes

in the past

b) Understanding of the significance of fossils.   In particular, that

there had been species in the past that are no longer extant.  And

species that are present now didn't exist in the past.   We now know

that approximately 99.8% of species have gone extinct.

two