Popper and the Theory of Evolution¡ªA Critical Evaluation

Sir Karl Popper, one of the philosophers who believe there is one single fixed method by which scientific theories are discovered, is recognized as a distinguished figure in philosophy of science mainly due to his Falsification Principle. He contends that scientific theories are not verifiable but only falsifiable, and proposed the method of conjectures and refutations.

There were a few theories that interested Popper in 1919, namely Einstein¡¯s Theory of Relativity, Marx¡¯s theory of history, Freud¡¯s theory of psycho-analysis and Alfred Adler¡¯s so-called ¡°Individual psychology¡±. Popper argued that the latter three theories were able to explain in hindsight phenomena that fell within their domain. These hind-sight explanations were always possible by invoking additional assumptions, exploiting conceptual vagueness, or making conceptual modifications solely designed to make the evidence appear to follow from their fundamental principles and to prevent refutation of their position by new empirical data (Bala, Arun. ¡°Popper¡¯s Strategies for Critical and Creative Thinking¡±, 2001).

On the contrary, Popper found Einstein¡¯s theory, which predic

Besides the tautology-like argument, the ¡°complex and sometimes varying conditions of life¡± also contributes to the classification of Theory of Evolution as ¡°non-testable¡±. According to Popper: ¡°The criterion of falsifiablility is a solution to this problem of demarcation, for it says that statements or systems of statements, in order to be ranked as scientific, must be capable of conflicting with possible, or conceivable, observation.¡± (Popper, Pg. 39) Hence ¡°testable¡± means given controlled and pre-defined condition, according to a theory, an observation should be expected. If the conditions can be controlled, can be analyzed and observation can be done, then the theory is testable.

Popper claimed that ¡°the criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability or testability¡± (Popper, ¡°Conjectures and Refutations¡±, 1969, Pg.37) According to his claim, if a theory can not be tested by experiment, or can not be falsified by experimental data, is not scientific. This claim invoked the famous debate over the scientific nature of Darwin¡¯s theory of evolution. In fact, Popper made his astonishing claim that: ¡°Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a meta-physical research program¡± (Popper, ¡°Unended Quest¡±, 1976, Pg 168), which has evoked the outrage of evolutionists worldwide.

Before we set off to scrutinize the scientific nature of Theory of Evolution, a brief summary of the theory is necessary. In this essay, I shall interpret Darwin¡¯s Theory of evolution as follows:

We can understand the theory as better¨Cadapted individuals (the ¡®fit enough¡¯) are more likely to survive and reproduce, thereby passing on copies of their genes to the next generation, Species whose individuals are best adapted survive; others become extinct. Following this interpretation, one can easily simplify the theory of evolution as a tautology argument ¡°Natural Selection is the survival of the fittest. The fittest are those that survive.¡± If adaptation is defined as that is sufficient for existence in a given environment, then if those species were not adapted, they would not exist, hence any situation where species exist is compatible with Darwinian explanation. This is like a tautology ¡°all chairs are chairs¡±, which is not testable; nor has any explanatory power. Following this logic, based on Popper¡¯s Principle of Falsification, Darwin¡¯s Theory of Evolution is not scientific because it was a tautology, and cannot be tested.

In this sense, we can also try to falsify the Theory of Evolution by making retrodictions, looking for counter-evidences such as existence of inefficient organisms, or a new species exists without ancestral species. For example, if we can find any existing species does possess traits considered ¡®unfit¡¯, reduce it¡¯s competitiveness in the fight of survival, but possess features more appealing to opposite sex therefore have a better chance to reproduce and manage to stand a better chance to pass down it¡¯s traits and survive, then it refutes Darwin¡¯s ¡°survival of the fittest¡± argument. As we can see from here, many of these testable hypotheses can be made according to the Theory of Evolution by making retrodictions based on observational data.

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