Sublime balance

Authors

  • Robert Magdziak
  • Russell F. Doolittle

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21641/demo.v3i23.21

Keywords:

Michael J. Behe, gene duplication, exon shuffling, blood clotting cascade, homology, irreducible complexity, reducible complexity

Abstract

It is a review of Michael J. Behe’s book titled Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical CHAllenge to Evolution (The Free Press, New York 1996), containing the criticism of evolutionary theory. Author criticizes Behe’s thesis that irreducible complexity of biochemical systems suggest they were designed by an intelligent designer, i.e. that they were not produced gradually by the working of natural selection. According to the author, irreducible complexity can be a result of the action of evolutionary process called gene duplication. He also thinks that the reference to the supernatural factors to explain phenomena occurring in nature has the same value as explanations invoking miracles, and this, according to him, cannot be described as a scientific practice. Scientists should hold on to the principle of methodological naturalism.

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References

Doolittle R.F., „The Comparative Biochemistry of Blood Coagulation”, Praca doktorska, Harvard University 1961.

Behe Michael J., Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, The Free Press, New York 1996.

Doolittle R.F., „The Evolution of Verterbrate Blood Coagulation: A Case of Yin and Yang”, Thrombosis Haemostasis 1993, vol. 70, s. 24-28.

Lehmann H. and Charlesworth D., „Observations on Haemoglobin P”, Biochemical Journal 1970, vol. 119, s. 43.

Doolittle R.F. and Feng D.F., „Reconstructing the History of Vertebrate Blood Coagulation of the Amino Acid Sequences of Clotting Proteins”, Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology 1987, vol. 52, s. 869-874.

Bugge et al., „Loss of Fibrinogen Rescues Mice from the Pleiotropic Effects of Plasminogen Deficiency”, Cell 1996, vol. 87, s. 709-719.

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Published

31-12-2004 — Updated on 31-05-2023

How to Cite

Magdziak, Robert, and Russell F. Doolittle. “Sublime Balance”. DEMO, vol. 3, no. 23, May 2023, pp. 55-64, doi:10.21641/demo.v3i23.21.

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Section

Articles