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Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism
Within evolutionary thought, the mechanistic thinking is represented by the school of neo-Darwinism, which is taught today as established theory of evolution in biology departments around the world. It is important, in my view, to distinguish between Darwinism and neo-Darwinism.
Darwin’s central insight that all forms of life have emerged from a common ancestry by a continuous process of variations, followed by natural selection, is accepted by all serious scientists today. What is mechanistic is the neo-Darwinist assertion that all evolutionary variation results from random mutations—that is, from random genetics changes—followed by natural selection. The geneticist Jacques Monod expressed the neo-Darwinist dogma clearly and forcefully: "Chance alone is the source of every innovation, of all creation in the biosphere."
In evolutionary thought, then, the debate between vitalism and mechanism is reduced to two stark alternatives. The source of nature’s creativity is either a purposeful design, or a series of random genetic changes.
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Fritjopf Capra
http://www.cts.cuni.cz/conf98/capra.htm
Is There Purpose in Nature?
Is Man a part of this Nature and does Man move and live under the aegis of random mutations?
Do random mutations create matter?