Darwin and the belief in evolution

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, it was clear that this year we would debate evolution, creation, science and scientificity again and at length. Debates on this subject have never been lacking anyway, and in a matter that has been debated for so many years, I have neither seen nor heard of anyone among those who have taken their sides convincing the other. Whichever side one has adopted beforehand, all one does throughout the debate is to launch into a fierce effort of proof in order to reinforce this position further. That is why even the new evidence or data announced or shown from time to time to have emerged does not much change the numerical balance of the sides on this subject.

In Turkey in particular, the fact that the debates were kicked off by Darwin being removed from the cover of the latest issue of the Bilim ve Teknik magazine published by TÜBİTAK, and the statements that followed, have been the best example showing that the matter has never been confined to the scientific sphere.

The news headline "Darwin removed from the cover of TÜBİTAK's magazine" itself naturally immediately put the myth of the "intolerant, reactionary, bigoted, religionist mentality" into circulation for its own recipients. In any case, this matter has never been seen to come onto the agenda in any way other than reproducing mutual mythologies. I do not know how the statements of the TÜBİTAK official, explaining that the matter is not like this at all, that is, that there is no censorship, that on the contrary it is a question of a correction regarding Darwin's having been put on the cover without authority and at the wrong time, and even that a better-equipped and more detailed Darwin issue is already on this year's agenda, will affect how the matter is understood. In the end, those who wanted to have already obtained their own image from this incident. But still, it is a good thing to hear that the Bilim ve Teknik magazine is already preparing a substantial "Darwin issue." Perhaps it will be a good occasion for the mythologies to be somewhat spoiled.

The most important mythology concerning Darwinism or evolutionism is that it is an approach representing scientific reality against belief. Once this understanding is taken as given, those who believe in creation and do not hold back from science rush to meet the claim of evolution at the scientific level and to keep up in the argument. Yet an understanding that sets evolution against the belief in creation has never been about scientificity. The only motivation of an explanation of coming-into-being offered as an alternative to the belief in creation is also belief. Evolutionism as presented today has nothing to do with Darwin's theory of evolution.

On many grounds, evolutionist discourses work in a sermon mode that tries to strengthen the creed of atheism. The possibility for any scientific theory to explain how man was created while staying within its scientific limits, that is, without entering the realm of belief, does not exist epistemologically. That is why there cannot actually be such a thing as a "theory of creation" either. Trying to explain creation scientifically stems from not knowing the categorical distinctions between the realms of belief and science. For the same reason, the evolution set against creation is not a theory but simply an alternative belief.

In the discourse of those who, on the occasion of the latest TÜBİTAK debates, try to present evolution as a yardstick of scientificity and absolute truth, it is likewise such a clear fact that the meaning attributed to evolution is nothing other than a rigid-dogmatic belief. Moreover, no one decides to "believe in evolution" knowing the evidence on which the theory of evolution rests or which it puts forward, and grasping comparatively the power of this evidence to be evidence. The decision to believe in evolution too was made before all scientific procedures, just like the belief that man and the universe were created by God.

That is why the debate about evolution and creation is never a subject that should be handled at the scientific level. The basic lessons of the philosophy of science about the limits of science actually offer a sufficiently illuminating and explanatory framework for how this subject should be handled. But those who debate fiercely on this subject are in no state to listen to even the most basic lessons. Even the wish to believe often comes before belief itself. This is the most important reason why newly reached data do not seriously change the course of the debate. For no one believes by looking at the result of scientific data, so that a change in these data would change people's belief.

Moreover, outside the context of creation, to the extent that it stays within scientific limits, the possibility of evolution has been an approach that Islamic philosophers or scientists too have from time to time evaluated without falling into any complex.

Even if the theory of evolution has turned into a belief for some people today, this theory has an important place in the history of science. It deserves to be on the agenda at all times, to be presented to attention as a typical example both of this place and of science turning into belief. I can see no reason why the Bilim ve Teknik magazine should withhold this much interest from Darwin and his theory.