The Evolution Debate: It’s Not About Theology – Michael Ruse

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/02/17/Michael_Ruse_on_Darwinism

Science philosopher Michael Ruse says the conflict between creationism and evolution is not a theological debate, but a cultural debate akin to abortion, gay marriage and capital punishment. “Evolution represents one side, rather than the other,” he says.

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Michael Ruse, philosopher of science, recounts the history of Darwinism by explaining the theories of evolution and natural selection.

Ruse questions whether these theories are as valid today, 200 years after Darwin’s birthday.

Michael Ruse is a philosopher of science, working on the philosophy of biology, and is well known for his work on the argument between creationism and evolutionary biology. He was born in England, took his undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol (1962), his master’s degree at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario (1964), and Ph.D. at the University of Bristol (1970). Ruse taught at the University of Guelph Canada for 35 years. Since his retirement from Guelph, he has taught at Florida State University and is, since 2000, the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy. In 1986, he was elected as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the American ociation for the Advancement of Science. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen, Norway (1990), the McMaster University, Ontario, Canada (2003) and most recently the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (2007).

Duration : 0:3:16


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25 Comments

MrAuberyAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

most people make …
most people make the mistake of believing that the bible’s 7 day creation is literal. The bible’s 7 days was a different incriment of time back then, meaning thousans of years. people take everything so literal.

Scientists show a chart of chimps chromosomes seperated that later fused & became human chromosomes making humans. The problem is they don’t show an in between. (a missing link) According to this fused chromosome chart, monkeys suddenly became humans.

sumadinac92August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

It’s so simple,God …
It’s so simple,God started his existence after Big Bang and took his grasp on wild energies and after billions of years planets evolved from mess,then he created the first micro form of life which over the ages spread throughout the universe evolving into more complex organisms throughout millions of years by his direction,simple.He then started interfearing with complex organisms and evolved them to more intelligent form.I’d rather believe in this than in the 7 day creation fairytale.

BillTheCat7August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Evolution itself …
Evolution itself says NOTHING about music, art, love, beauty, etc. But, if you really think so, then evolutionism is your religion.

HottidesAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

All aspects of …
All aspects of human life are informed by evolution, including French Medieval poetry and theism. The main bardic theme has always been love/lust,i.e. reproduction. Pinnings for Genvieve were Lancelot’s desires to advantageously propagate his genes a la Darwinism. Evolution invalidates Theism by disposing of design and purpose. Theism holds life was designed by deities to fulfill holy fiat. Evolution proves organisms owe structure and behavior to mutations that were environmentally selected.

leidenhagAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Well, it would mean …
Well, it would mean death for theism only if evolution means an unguided purposeless process. And if you mean that evolution implies an unguided purposeless process you step from science into philosophy, because how can you empirically prove that evolution has no purpose? You can“t!

bobzilla211August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

try telling that to …
try telling that to those threatened by it. most christians are happy to believe in evolution. this stuff must really annoy them.

HottidesAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

The “Evolution …
The “Evolution Debate” is a misnomer. Religious fundamentalists and ignoramuses of various misguided persuasions are fervently and futilely trying to deny incontrovertible fact, much as many still fight transfusion,contraception or the reality of the round Earth. Since evolution is incontrovertible FACT, the Creationist cause is doomed. Resisting the laws of the Cosmos is indeed futile.

bashiaAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Yea but people are …
Yea but people are debating it anyway–duh

BillTheCat7August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

“Full acceptance of …
“Full acceptance of evolution means death for theistic rubbish….”

If you think that evolution says anything about theism, then you don’t understand evolution. Evolutionary theory says as much about theism as it does French medieval poetry – that is, nothing at all.

HottidesAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

There is NO ” …
There is NO “Evolution Debate”. As Dawkins says in The Selfish Gene, Evolution is as firmly and incontestably established as the rotation of the Earth about it’s sun. Full acceptance of evolution means death for theistic rubbish, Darwin having extended science the last remaining “miracle”, life.

timoteotimeAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

[It is] he that …
[It is] he that sitteth upon the CIRCLE of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

Isaiah 40:22

“the bible teaches the earth is flat”…and all the rest of the secualrist arguments are fabricated to make men of faith look stupid…believe what you want it takes FAITH either WAY…Neither side has HARD evidence..IE transitional life forms whare are they???????????????????

timoteotimeAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

yeah why shouldn’t …
yeah why shouldn’t someone be a delf centered pig and give in to his every appetite, look at the Kung Fu actor…he went out with a rope tied around his nuts trying to get off …well good for him he was liberated from “religion”…he died enlightened…evoltionary adaptation? or the slow deadening of conscience to the point that we are PROUD PERVRETS???

peppersdogAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Theologists tell …
Theologists tell people how they should live their lives day to day. Evolutionists tell people how life may have evolved long ago. Where is the conflict? I don’t get it!

caltrop69August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

So…Uh…As an …
So…Uh…As an agnostic, do you believe in god, or not?

bkisharAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Nonsense.
Nonsense.

rufdogshavebumpsAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

hold up hold up. he …
hold up hold up. he says its not a debate about theology and evolution. and instead about ways of living. and i would say hes right if we are discussing the majority..considering the majority of atheists as well as religious devotees believe as an act of faith. i am an agnostic. i do worry about truth. i have read books on creationism and evolution. at this point i believe that evolution has more weight however im thankful there are highly respectable scientists, IMHO, to counterbalance this.

stamboni316August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Therein lies the …
Therein lies the problem with creationist thinking. ;-)

BesACBAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

The most …
The most prestigious ‘face’ on the biggest evangelical broadcasting corporation in Holland recently declared that he had turned evolutionist. Dismay and uproar, schadenfreude, but he hasn’t lost his job. In Holland the atheist lieth down with the religious fanatic!

greenfury87August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

But there is still …
But there is still a problem. A day is not light itself. A day is experienced when you are standing on the side of the Earth currently facing the sun. God didnt call the light day and the dark night. Humans did, just as humans invented the concept of God.

greenfury87August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

You bring up a good …
You bring up a good point for atheism. Where God was when he supposedly created the universe was a place without a sun or a planet. Yet the Bible says God created the heavens and the Earth in 7 days. This does not make sense, in fact I think it proves why the Bible was a book written by men, familiar with the concept of day and night, and is therefore, in my opinion, not something based in reality.

greenfury87August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Why shouldnt …
Why shouldnt someone drink alchohol or be ful? is an evolutionary adaptation that ensures the survival of the human species. And drinking alchohol is just a fun thing to do as long as you dont take it too far.

caesarofearthAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

If a person …
If a person murdered, would you not put them in jail?

While it is true that you shouldn’t drink alchohol or be ful, you also apparenatly do some very good things. You wouldn’t be dammed for eternity, if that is what you think we ume, but you would go to a lower level of Heaven (there are three mentioned in the bible) than if you do not repent of those sins.
God doesn’t punish people for eternity, it is written that they know their place when they see Christ at the end judgement.

caesarofearthAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

I’m not siding with …
I’m not siding with the evolutionists here, but you don’t understand the theory of evolution.
Rather, it is well known both that species have changed and that species have gone extinct. God created all original life and makes sure we live with His powerful hand, but once he put living creatures here they immediatly began to change. The only species that has not been part of any evolution and hardly any adaption is ourselves, because God made sure we couldn’t change from our basic structure.

caesarofearthAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

I don’t know how …
I don’t know how many times I have to say this, because obviously you are not getting it, but: A MORNING AND AN EVENING FOR GOD IS NOT THE SAME AS A MORNING AND AN EVENING FOR US. A morning is when the sun rises, an evening is when the sun sets. God has a different morning and evening than us because he doesn’t actually live here in his physical body, and so one sunset where he lives could easily be 1000 sunsets for us.

tuseroniAugust 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am

it says right there …
it says right there that a day BECOMES DEFINED at the point god made DAYS. god made light, then he seeperated light from darkness, the light he called day and the darkness he called night, and evening and morning became the FIRST DAY. and in every passage after they say “evening and morning were the x day” in the bible a day is defined as the period from day to the next morning.
its very clearly defined in the bible what a day is in this context.

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