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Shaping Shaping BiologyBiologyShaping Shaping BiologyBiology
© Dr Arthur Jones(September 2007)
Plan
1) Worldviews
2) Systematics
3) Some Case Studies
4) Conclusion
Worldviews
Worldviews
• Christianity
• Islam
• Western Religion
• Communism
• Hinduism
Christian Story
Creation
Fall
Redemption
New Creation
Worldview of Western Religion
Science
Technology
Economics Consumerism
Systematics:Digging Deeper
Worldviews are not enough
For Christian critique of science and science teaching
we need a systematic understanding of how
beliefs influence science
The Bush of Knowledge
Explicit(usually
recognised)
Implicit(rarely
recognised)
All the disciplinesFacts
Religion
General Philosophy
Philosophy
Paradigms
Theories
© Richard Russell & Arthur Jones
religion
general philosophy
paradigms
discipline philosophies
theories
facts
religion
paradigm
discipline philosophies
theories
facts
general philosophy
Tree ofLife
General PhilosophyWhat is Biology?
“Life is never a material, a substance to be moulded. If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself.”
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)
(Doctor Zhivago)
religion
general philosophy
paradigms
discipline philosophies
theories
facts
Philosophies of Biology
• Atomism – all wholes are explained by analysing them into their parts.
• Mechanism – All events are explained by preceding events which are their causes.
religion
general philosophy
discipline philosophies
theories
facts
paradigms
Paradigms
in the physical sciences
Atomic Theory
Chaos Theory
Big Bang Theory
Chemical Bonding Theory
Kinetic Theory of Gases
Conservation of Energy Law
Law of Increasing Entropy
Quantum Theory
Least Action PrincipleElectromagnetic Theory
Paradigms
in the biological sciences
Cell Theory
Sociobiology
Darwinism
Exclusion Principle
Gene Theory
Selfish Gene Theory
Law of Biogenesis
Structuralism Principle of Homology
Principle of Homeostasis
Paradigms in Genetics
• Mendelism
• Weismannismgerm line theory
particulate heredity
Two key paradigms:
Mendelism – The factors governing characters are material, hereditary particles (‘atoms’) – now called ‘genes’.
Weismannism – Heredity is a function of the germline only. The germline gives rise to the body (soma); the body does not affect the germline.
Facts
Philosophy
Paradigms
Theories
Genetical ‘facts’
Mechanism Atomism
governed by the assumptions of
Genetical theories
selected and interpreted by
Mendelism Weismannism
using the concepts of
• DNA reductionism is like saying the bumps on a CD
• create both the music and the CD player.
• DNA encodes the building materials (proteins), but not the architect’s plans.
• Heredity and development never start with just DNA, but always with whole cells, whole organisms.
Paramecium
Is there a scientifictheory of
evolution?
How? No theory!
(1) Embryological Development
How? No theory!
(2) Evolutionary Development
CONCLUSION:How can we
shapebiology?
• through understanding how beliefs influence science
• through developing and applying a Christian philosophy of science
• through worldview analysis
Shaping Shaping BiologyBiologyShaping Shaping BiologyBiology
© Dr Arthur Jones
(September 2007)
THETHE
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