Flashcards: Understanding Evolution and Creationism — 24 cards

19th-century tech optimism

Fostered confidence in scientific progress.

Historical critical method

Treats the Bible as an ordinary historical document.

Deism transformism

Made evolutionary ideas acceptable before Darwin.

Fixity of species

Species do not change; supported by biblical reading.

Atheist scientists

Supported non-religious explanations in science.

Hutton's geologic view

Earth is extremely old, formed by slow processes.

Uniformitarianism

Present processes explain Earth's past.

Erasmus Darwin

Proposed laws explaining progressive variation.

Malthus

Described competition due to population growth.

Lamarck

Explained species change via use/disuse and environment.

Linnaean concept

Species as fixed, unchanging groups.

Cuvierian catastrophism

Major catastrophes explain fossil gaps.

Transformism

Species can change over time.

Malthusian struggle

Survival depends on competition.

Darwin’s natural selection

Mechanism where environmental pressures favor certain traits.

Origin of Species

Book proposing common descent and natural selection.

Darwin's deism

Believed in a creator who does not intervene.

Evolution

Change of organisms over generations.

Speciation

Formation of new species.

Arguments for evolution

Fossil, anatomical, embryological, biochemical evidence.

Problems in evolution

Origin of complex organs, human traits, missing intermediates.

Creationism

Divine creation in six days; flood explanation.

Fossil gaps

Alleged missing intermediate forms in record.

Creationist critique

Fossil gaps and lack of transitional forms.