I have replied to this post to addend some of Percy’s work in his post. I may or may not continue depending on your ability to comprehend. I was planning on finding each quotes context and author information, but Percy’s post makes it a little redundant in rebutting your quote mine project. I will attempt to addend or find those items which Percy may have missed or been unable to find.
As far as quotes, DS, I hope you have begun to realize how silly you make yourself look.
Darkstar writes:
"It is inherent in any definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observation are not really saying anythingor at least they are not science."
George G. Simpson
With the above quote, I won’t play the game of Guess where you screwed up mining this? I’ll just give you some of the context of the
Science journal article in which this quote resides. The most I guess I can credit you with is that you misunderstood the context of the quote. The bold is mine.
Not so for any planetary systems that may exist outside our own. Statements in both the scientific and the popular literature that there are millions of such systems suitable for life and probably inhabited may give the impression that we know that they do exist. In fact we know no such thing in any way acceptable as sober science. There are no direct observational data whatever. It is inherent in any acceptable definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observation are not really about anything —or at the very least they are not science. As long as we do not confuse what we are saying with reality, there is no reason why we should not discuss what we hope or expect to observe, but it is all too easy to take conjecture and extrapolation too seriously. It is not impossible that our descendents may some day make pertinent direct observations on other planetary systems, but that is far beyond our present capabilities or any reasonable extrapolation from them.
The above is the actual context of that quote. Obviously he isn’t talking about evolution but the suitability of other planetary systems for life. I recommend strongly that you apply context to your quotes. Otherwise you just look like a horse’s ass.
George Gaylord Simpson, "The Nonprevalence of Humanoids", Science Vol. 143, No. 3608, February 21, 1964, p. 770
The page in which the quote is mined from is also shown. I wonder when you will do the same amount of work as others have done in rebutting the flaws in your argument.
Here is a quote from George Simpson in which he expresses his regard for the validity of the Theory of Evolution. Hard to reconcile this with your idea that he had a problem with evolution. Is your intent to deceive? Isn’t the devil called a deceiver, the father of lies?
From his article One Hundred Years without Darwin are Enough.
Suppose that the most fundamental and general principle of a science had been known for over a century and had long since become a main basis for understanding and research by scientists in that field. You would surely assume that the principle would be taken as a matter of course by everyone with even a nodding acquaintance with the science. It would obviously be taught everywhere as basic to the science at any level of education. If you think that about biology, however, you are wrong.
Evolution is such a principle in biology. Although almost everyone has heard of it, most Americans have only the scantest and most distorted idea of its real nature and significance. I know of no poll, but I suspect that a majority doubt, disbelieve, or violently oppose its clear truth without a hearing and on no basis more rational than prejudice, dogma, or superstition. Many school and not a few college teachers either share that irrationality or evade teaching the truth of evolution from other motives. That is a main reason whyonly a minority of us have fully entered the world into which Darwin led us.
On the subject of the peppered moths. Darkstar when will you take the time to do some of your own homework instead of mining quotes from creationist literature and websites. If you care to take a look at the following website you might learn something.
Moonshine: Why the Peppered Moth Remains an Icon of Evolution
Young, M. (2003). Moonshine: Why the Peppered Moth Remains an Icon of Evolution
If you can’t supply the context, you shouldn’t bother mining the quote.
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