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To: CarolinaGuitarman
My solution was that the doctrine of natural selection is a most successful metaphysical research programme.

That's another way of calling it a philosophy. When Popper uses the words "I changed my mind," the preceding sentence speaks of its value as a "reasearch programme." He changed his mind regarding its "testability and logical status." Which way he changed his mind is not clear, but it is clear that without a guiding point of view, i.e. an acknowledged set of assumptions, imagination can indulge any whim and still call it "science." Evolutionism in the wide sense makes a caricature of science.

332 posted on 08/08/2005 7:51:45 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Fester Chugabrew
No, the direction of the change in his position is explicit. His earlier position was that while it was a very successful and useful metaphysical research program, natural selection was not testable and probably a tautology. He says he based that on a misreading of the popular writings of a few well known evolutionists. He says that he himself was a culprit in spreading this misrepresentation. You refuse to acknowledge what Popper plainly said. Again, you are either illiterate or a practiced *Liar for the Lord*. Either way you have shown yourself time and time again to be beneath rational discussion.


"Nevertheless, I have changed my mind about the testability and logical status of the theory of natural selection; and I am glad to have an opportunity to make a recantation. My recantation may, I hope, contribute a little to the understanding of the status of natural selection."


He says,

"However, Darwin's own most important contribution to the theory of evolution, his theory of natural selection, is difficult to test. There are some tests, even some experimental tests; and in some cases, such as the famous phenomenom known as "industrial melanism", we can observe natural selection happening under our very eyes, as it were. Nevertheless, really severe tests of the theory of natural selection are hard to come by, much more so than tests of otherwise comparable theories in physics or chemistry.

The fact that the theory of natural selection is difficult to test has led some people, anti-Darwinists and even some great Darwinists, to claim that it is a tautology. "

He rejected this after careful attention to what the theory of evolution said. He says that it can be tested, although the tests are very difficult. Fair enough, nobody said it was easy. You however, because you desperately need to cling to the creationist lie that Popper never changed his mind about the logical nature of Natural Selection, refuse to accept what is plainly laid out for you in English.
337 posted on 08/08/2005 9:04:40 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
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