Constancy of Species: Difference between revisions

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See also [[Species]].<br>
==Meaning of ''"species"''==
 
Aristotle: species<br>
Aristotle: species<br>
Linnaeus: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being fixity of species]
Linnaeus: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being fixity of species]


==Meaning of ''"species"'' in modern Biology==
Compare [[Baraminology]] (evolution within the Biblical kinds) and [[Was the Flood followed by rapid evolution?]]
<blockquote>"{{3dots}}I was much struck how entirely vague and arbitrary is the distinction between species and varieties{{3dots}}"<div align="right">&mdash; Charles Darwin, ''On the origin of species by means of natural selection.'' 1859</div></blockquote>


Modern Biologists are aware that the concept of ''species'' cannot be simply defined, and are careful to avoid ambiguity when using the term. For an overview of this "species problem" see the Wikipedia page [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_concept Species Concept].


Here is a simple by-the-way explanation of what ''species'' usually means in modern Biology from bro [[Alan W Fowler|Alan Fowler]]:<blockquote>"{{3dots}} we are using the word 'species' as a biological term referring to groups of plants or animals that can successfully interbreed. Thus horses are a separate species from asses because, although they can interbreed, their progeny (mules and hinnies) are sterile. The different species belonging to the same family or genus share the same basic features; thus allthe 87 different species of kingfisher have spear-like beaks and dive for fish and all the 200 species of woodpecker bore into old trees and have long worm-like tongues than harpoon insects. ''The evolution of new species does not involve the acquisition of new organs or structures.''" <div align="right">&mdash; [[Alan W Fowler]], Twenty Essays in a Search for Truth, Printland, 2011. p.5</div>
===Mainstream scientific perspective===
</blockquote>  
USA [https://ncse.ngo National Center for Science Education] report at [https://ncse.ngo/species-kinds-and-evolution Species, Kinds, and Evolution].  A quote (with our internal links):
<blockquote>Creationists will often claim that they are not interested in the species level, though. Initially, creationism did require fixity of species. In the 1920s, when [[George McCready Price]] equated "species" to the biblical "kinds", he was forced, to allow for the Ark to carry "every kind", to raise the bar higher. Even this was not original. In the late 18th century, Buffon, Cuvier's predecessor, had suggested that there was a "first stock" from which all members of a kind had evolved, so that all cats evolved from an original animal, modified by geography and climate, for instance. So creationists themselves have a "vagueness problem" no less than evolutionary biology does. Life is vague. Certainly the creationist "kind", or [[Baraminology|"baramin"]], as they mangle the Hebrew for "created kind", is extremely elastic. Given that elasticity, the motivation for the inference that was made naturally during the 17th and 18th centuries that ''species'' do not evolve is undercut. If kinds are not exact in reproduction, why think that the Genesis account is enough to prohibit evolution? The answer is, of course, that biblical [[Literal Reading|literalism]] is not the primary motivation here for opposition to evolution.  
</blockquote>


An understanding of the concept of ''"species"'' helps avoid wrong thinking like this:<blockquote>
===Creationist perspective===
''"{{3dots}}we know that different species of dogs, cats, horses, ducks etc can be mated together and produce fertile offspring"''&nbsp;{{3dots}}<br>''"{{3dots}}the modern dog, with over 300 described species&nbsp;{{3dots}}"''
An essay from the "creationist" point of view published by "[[Answers in Genesis]]" (well-known organisation that opposes evolution) is [https://answersingenesis.org/natural-selection/speciation/fixity-of-species/ "Fixity of Species, A lesson in changing definitions"].  A short extract:
<div align="right">&mdash; Rob Thiele, ''"Things Hard To Be Understood '' '''Every beast of the field and every fowl of the air... Gen 2:19'''"<br>''[[Lampstand Magazine|Lampstand]]'', July-Aug 2019 pp.216-220</div>
</blockquote>


===Origin of Species and origin of Life===
<blockquote>
According to [[Theistic Evolution|Darwin]], <em>species</em> originate through change, while <em>life</em> originated miraculously: <blockquote>''"life ... originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one ..."''</blockquote>
Others such as Basil, prior to the Latin Vulgate, discussed ''species'' as the biblical kind in the 4th century in his Homilies on Genesis 1. Matthew Henry, in the late 1600s and early 1700s, uses species as kinds in his notes on Genesis 2:3, saying there would be no new “species” created after creation week had completed. The list could continue. The point is that ''species'' originally meant the biblical kind. {{3dots}}


Compare [[Baraminology]] (evolution within the Biblical kinds) and [[Was the Flood followed by rapid evolution?]]
After Linnaeus, both of these words (''species'' and ''genus'') were commonly used in modern biological classification systems with slightly different definitions. In the mid-to-late 1700s, species began taking on a new, more specific definition in scientific circles as a biological term (that definition is still being debated even today). But by and large, the definition had changed so that, instead of there being a dog species (or dog kind), there were many dog species.
</blockquote>

Latest revision as of 12:48, 13 February 2023

See also Species.

Aristotle: species
Linnaeus: fixity of species

Compare Baraminology (evolution within the Biblical kinds) and Was the Flood followed by rapid evolution?


Mainstream scientific perspective

USA National Center for Science Education report at Species, Kinds, and Evolution. A quote (with our internal links):

Creationists will often claim that they are not interested in the species level, though. Initially, creationism did require fixity of species. In the 1920s, when George McCready Price equated "species" to the biblical "kinds", he was forced, to allow for the Ark to carry "every kind", to raise the bar higher. Even this was not original. In the late 18th century, Buffon, Cuvier's predecessor, had suggested that there was a "first stock" from which all members of a kind had evolved, so that all cats evolved from an original animal, modified by geography and climate, for instance. So creationists themselves have a "vagueness problem" no less than evolutionary biology does. Life is vague. Certainly the creationist "kind", or "baramin", as they mangle the Hebrew for "created kind", is extremely elastic. Given that elasticity, the motivation for the inference that was made naturally during the 17th and 18th centuries that species do not evolve is undercut. If kinds are not exact in reproduction, why think that the Genesis account is enough to prohibit evolution? The answer is, of course, that biblical literalism is not the primary motivation here for opposition to evolution.

Creationist perspective

An essay from the "creationist" point of view published by "Answers in Genesis" (well-known organisation that opposes evolution) is "Fixity of Species, A lesson in changing definitions". A short extract:

Others such as Basil, prior to the Latin Vulgate, discussed species as the biblical kind in the 4th century in his Homilies on Genesis 1. Matthew Henry, in the late 1600s and early 1700s, uses species as kinds in his notes on Genesis 2:3, saying there would be no new “species” created after creation week had completed. The list could continue. The point is that species originally meant the biblical kind. . . . 

After Linnaeus, both of these words (species and genus) were commonly used in modern biological classification systems with slightly different definitions. In the mid-to-late 1700s, species began taking on a new, more specific definition in scientific circles as a biological term (that definition is still being debated even today). But by and large, the definition had changed so that, instead of there being a dog species (or dog kind), there were many dog species.