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)

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