12th International Interdisciplinary Seminar
Barcellona, 1-6 January 2010
Charles Darwin and Evolution
Overview of the topics which shall be discussed during the Seminar
The 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has re-opened the debate about how blind forces and random chance can produce all the intricate varieties of life that we see around us. The Creationists say that only God can produce such highly complex and specialised living creatures. The Darwinists assert that from processes within living things, random mutation and natural selection are quite sufficient to explain the vast diversity of the biosphere. Can we reconcile these two approaches?
We can take the view that in the beginning God created the laws of nature (the laws of physics, chemistry and so on), and from the Big Bang Theory we know that the chemical elements needed for life were produced over time — Hydrogen and Helium very close in time to the Big Bang, but most other chemicals were produced much later, inside stars — so that 10 billion years must pass before all the ingredients for life exist. All this development can be explained by the application of physical laws. Could it not be that the next steps, the origin and development of life, happen also simply following natural scientific laws, i.e. without special divine intervention?
On the other hand, a detailed study of just one complex living system – not even a whole organism – shows such marvels of engineering, that some people couldn’t just believe that superhuman handiwork is not involved. The discovery of DNA and the attendant mechanisms for replication, transcription and repair just increase the sense of awe.
Some of these matters were known to Darwin and his contemporaries, and they discussed them. Today, we have much greater scientific knowledge, which both explains more but at the same time shows that living things are much more remarkable than Darwin was able to appreciate.
The XII International Interdisciplinary Seminar aims to contribute to this debate through a careful consideration of the facts as presented by many different fields of study.
Flyer (outside) - January 2010
The International Interdisciplinary Seminar of Economics (our twin seminar) this year will be held in Pedralbes, too. Following, it is available the flyer of the workshop.
Flyer of the Economic Seminar - January 2010
Some quotes and useful documents.
Charles Darwin
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin
Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits. Charles Darwin
Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence. Charles Darwin
My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. Charles Darwin
On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created, we gain no scientific explanation. Charles Darwin
Theory of evolution
DISF - Interdisciplinary dictionary
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