Biology Quote by Jerry A. Coyne

““In science's pecking order, evolutionary biology lurks somewhere near the bottom, far closer to phrenology than to physics. For evolutionary biology is a historical science, laden with history's inevitable imponderables. We evolutionary biologists cannot generate a Cretaceous Park to observe exactly what killed the dinosaurs; and, unlike "harder" scientists, we usually cannot resolve issues with a simple experiment, such as adding tube A to tube B and noting the color of the mixture.””

Jerry A. Coyne

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Biology Confessions-of-the-darwinists Conjecture Darwin Darwinism Darwinist-confessions Evolution History Macro-evolution Macroevolution Neo-darwinism Pecking order Pseudo-science Science Speculation

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Evolution tells us where we came from, not where we can go.

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“Many people require more than just evidence before they’ll accept evolution. To these folks, evolution raises such profound questions of purpose, morality, and meaning…

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“since many traits can affect an individual's adaptation to it's environment (it's "fitness") natural selection can over eons sculpt an animal or plant into…

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These mysteries about how we evolved should not distract us from the indisputable fact that we did evolve.

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Some believers are fundamentalists about everything, but every believer is a fundamentalist about something.

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Theology is the post hoc rationalization of what you want to believe.

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“There is an increasing (and disturbing) tendency of psychologists, biologists, and philosophers to Darwinize every aspect of human behavior, turning its study into a…

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Can a geology teacher blithely tell his students that the earth is flat, or a European history professor that the Holocaust didn't happen? That's…

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“Life on earth evolved gradually beginning with one primitive life form – perhaps a self-replicating molecule – that lived more than 3.5 billion years…

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Science has only two things to contribute to religion: an analysis of the evolutionary, cultural, and psychological basis for believing things that aren't true,…

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“IDers argue that such traits, involving many parts that must cooperate for that trait to function at all, defy Darwinian explanation. Therefore, by default,…

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Explore all 48 Jerry A. Coyne quotes

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