![]() It states that the fittest individuals in a population will leave most offspring. ![]() “Natural selection turns out on closer inspection to be a tautology, a statement of an inevitable although previously unrecognized relation. “The trouble about evolutionary theory is its tautological, or almost tautological character there does not seem to be much difference, if any, between the assertion ‘those that survive are the fittest’ and the tautology ‘those that survive are those that survive.’ For we have no other criterion of fitness than survival.” ( Objective Knowledge, revised. They assert that ‘fitness’ is used synonymously with ‘survival’ and therefore cannot affect survival. The critics claim that the second principle is meaningless. At least some of the variations that affect fitness are transmitted to offspring. ![]() Some variations affect fitness and, therefore, survival (reproductive success is a more accurate term than survival, but either will do).ģ. The theory of evolution by natural selection rests on three principles:Ģ. I shall try to show that their reasoning is incorrect. Yet both creationists and some prominent philosophers and biologists have argued that the phrase is used tautologously as a result, they assert, the whole theory is invalidated. The phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ seems to play a key role in the theory of evolution. SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles Survival of the Fittest Does ‘survival of the fittest’ simply mean ‘survival of those best able to survive’? If so, is the theory of evolution just an empty statement of the obvious? Fred Leavitt unravels a logical challenge to Darwinism. ![]()
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