Dialogues

Abstract

In this example three college students, one of whom is preparing for a medical career, freely discuss their view of evolution. As will be noticed, their joint understanding of evolution is certainly different from Darwin’s perspective. Furthermore their interpretation of evolution as a form of religious belief has profound implications for their perceptions of science in general, for medical scientists specifically, and for many related issues such as abortion, artificial insemination, and the right to die. Their suspicions of the motives of scientists appear to be as indicative of as profound a misunderstanding of science as that of many scientists’ misunderstanding of religious motives.