Gradualism versus Punctuationi

A detailed Summary of Gradualism versus Punctuationi

Although modern evolutionists are thought to be divided on the issues surrounding evolutionary theory, a close look at the evidence suggests that both the gradualist school of thought and the punctuationist school of thought share many characteristics in common. This is especially true when evaluating their beliefs about the fossil record, disagreement with the theory of saltation, and the misinterpretation of the word "rapid" in terms of punctuationist theory. Although this may be the case, the two theories do diverge on one important point, the notion of periods of stasis, but when taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that punctuationism is not as radical as it has been hyped up to be.

In terms of evaluating both arguments, it is important to dispel the some common myths about punctuationist theory. First, there appear to be many large gaps in the fossil record (Dawkins, 1986). Both gradualists and punctuationists agree that the only explanation for these apparent gaps, besides the notion that there are gaps in the record, would be creationism. Creationism holds that the reason for the appearance of largely different organisms in the fossil record, without organisms that display intermed

Therefore, the theories of gradualism and punctuationism share many elements in common with one major issue on which they diverge. First, both agree that there are gaps in the fossil record, and in doing so, they reject the theory of creationism. Second, neither gradualists nor punctuationists agree with the tenets of saltationism, because scientific evidence refutes the major premises of this theory. In addition, both gradualists and punctuationists agree that evolutionary change does not proceed in a constant and smooth fashion. Both theories assert that evolutionary change is followed by a period of stasis, but the punctuationists believe, that this period of stasis is marked by an active resistance against evolutionary change. Thus, theorists of the punctuationist school should quit looking to completely discredit the gradualist school of thought, because they share many premises in common with each other. Instead, the focus should be placed on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of both arguments in terms of the fundamental difference concerning periods of stasis.

In addition, when comparing the theories of gradualism with punctuationism, it is important to evaluate the theory of saltationism. Although p

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