Evolving evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evolving evolution - Essay Example The article offers the three constructs of Darwinian theory that include natural selection, heredity, and variation. Darwin believed that evolution was a gradual process where randomized changes to genetic profiles occurred while the organism sought â€Å"favorable variations† (Rosenfield & Ziff, 2006, p.1). Thus, Darwin believed that evolution consisted of unpredictable conditions that would best suit the organism for adaptability to a changing environment. However, advancing researchers such as Mendel began to recognize tangible genetic characteristics in organisms that were directly related to evolutionary changes with a new emphasis on genetic heredity. Not wanting to completely refute Darwin position, a new variation on Darwinian theory known as Modern Synthesis was released in the 1940s that began to recognize genetic importance in evolutionary patterns. Brakefield (2006) refers to the neo-Darwin knowledge of genetics as a catalyst for what Darwin believed as random muta tions as genetic morphology, the real constraints on classical natural selection theory. The article then describes further contemporary knowledge of the nature of the double helix as an explanation of how biological mutations occur, which in this case supported Darwin’s view that evolution occurs over time. The article describes Darwin’s view on the complexity of the eye as a means of describing certain knowledge inconsistencies during Darwin’s time period in an attempt to ascribe eye evolution to his classical view of natural selection. Offers Lamb (2011), a contributor to Scientific American, the eye is often regarded by opponents of evolution as â€Å"a system that cannot function in the absence of any of its components and therefore cannot have evolved naturally from a more primitive form†. Darwin, himself, argues that such complexity makes it difficult to support classical evolutionary theory, but acknowledges that elongated periods of time made such adaptations probable