When type of reasoning was used in the development of evolutionary theory?
1 Answer
Observation, extrapolation, and philosophical bias.
Explanation:
Darwin observed fossils of animals similar to the animals that presently inhabited South America. He concluded that the present animals descended form the extinct fossil animals.
Darwinian evolution extrapolates from the observations that animals change or evolve. Darwin proposed that decent with modification could explain how life could have evolved from a single cell to the vast diversity of life observed today. This is an extrapolation of observed changes to unobserved and unobservable theorized changes.
The philosophical basis of Darwinian evolution are natural cause and slow uniform processes. Darwin was seeking an explanation of life that relied only on natural observable causes. Darwin was greatly influenced by Charles Lyell's theories of slow uniform changes in geology. Darwin interpreted his observations of changes in living organisms on the basis of slow uniform changes and natural cause.
The reasoning behind Darwin's theory of descent with modification was a philosophical bias for natural causes combined with observations that were extrapolated beyond the observations.
