Evolution of ManTo start off with, in my opening round: the origin and evolution of human beings were covered with substantial Evidence.
We know humans evolved from other apes, we can see the progression of forms in the fossil records, and these conclusions are corroborated by evidence from discovered predicted transitional forms, and genetic evidence: this was mostly covered in my previous round.
This covers the majority of my opponents first round: Humans clearly evolved from some simian ancestor (IE: Monkeys), there is clear evidence that shows we evolved, and there is no evidence to indicate any of this or the events preceding it were purposeful or intentional.
My opponent is free to offer explanations as to specifically what part of the evolution of life on the planet is objectionable, or to offer which aspect of my explanation he challenge.
Without that, I extend all these arguments to the next round:
Humans evolved; there is no evidence of any purpose or creation event.
This clearly refutes the resolution.
Pros case:It’s hard to unpack pros position - to work out what his specific issue with evolution and a naturalistic explanation of humanity is. I will try and unpack the overall points one by one.
1.) Darwinism is based on flawed social reasoning Darwinism is not evolution, and hasn’t been since the 1900s. Evolution is now the modern evolutionary synthesis, and comprises no just natural and sexual selection (Darwin), but population genetics, molecular biology, mendelivian inheritance, genetics, phylogeny and evolutionary development.
Pros objection to how Darwinism came about is the “genetic fallacy”, Evolution is validated, tested and confirmed accurate - and is no less accurate if pro objects to how the theory came about or not.
2.) Rejection of Evolution.In addition, pro appears to reject evolution summarily and without good reason. The evidence in support for evolution provided in round1 covers this point.
3.) EnergyIt’s not entirely clear what my opponent is attempting to argue here. It seems that he is pointing out that for animals to evolve they require additional energy. What is odd is the way this is described.
We get our physical energy from food, and plants get this from the sun. That is effectively where all the energy we have comes from.
Getting extra energy is not a problem in this regard - unless it is not available in the environment. Contrary to what is intimated by my opponent, being stronger, faster, or to have higher endurance is often down to genetic mutations:
ACTN3 and ACE genes, for example, have an influence of the type of muscle fibres your body produces and athletic performance. Indeed, genetic mutations and differences account for 30-80% of differences in two individuals athletic ability.[1]
So Genes can definitely make you unable to complete with Mike Tyson. The energy is just down to how much food you eat beforehand.
So this clearly shows pros objection to evolution is untrue and unfounded.
4.) Argument from IgnorancePro does not seem to offer any positive argument in support of humans either being created purposefully , or being intended. The argument seems to be boiling down to an argument from ignorance: that humans are complex, that aspects of them are not understood - therefore they were created.
This is a poor argument and one akin to the God of the gaps - God invented to explain that which is not currently explained. Given the level of knowledge about human biology, evolution and the universe - these gaps keep getting smaller with time.
5.) Humans are fundamentally different from ApesThis is untrue. You and I are different. We are not fundamentally different. Humans and chimps are about 10-40 times more different than you and I as shown in R1.
The difference is not fundamental.
Chimpanzees are not quite as intelligent, have slightly different shapes, and not as much complexity in their language as we do. That is not a fundamental difference.
Contrary to my opponents statement: Primates have indeed been observed mourning for goes over the death of a loved one. Showing they understand the concept and nature of death.
They have been observed going to war over long periods of time - mimicking human behaviour.[3].
They even have been observed with their own religious ceremonies - seeking to treat a particular tree as “holy”[4]
This demonstrates, measurably, that chimps and primates are incredibly close - affirming that we are very similar and evolutionarily related.
Whether they have a higher understanding of nature - is largely unknown - and unknowable. We can’t communicate well with primates in detail, so we cannot know what they believe. This extends to pro too - pro offers no evidence for how he is so certain about what Primates feel and what they believe.
6.) Can Humans come from the material?Pro asks whether humans can come from the material. Pro asks whether we can be philosophical or “strive for higher ideals”, though it is not fully clear what means.
Pro offers no positive evidence for his position - and relies on what appears to be an argument from ignorance again - there is no explanation for how aspects of humanity can arise - therefore God.
This is compounded by the fact there is an well evidenced explanation of how humans came from the material, and compounded by the fact that primates exhibit much of this similar “higher behaviour”.
7.) Humans have additional energy.In the final part of his argument; pro states that energy needs to have been added to chimps to make humans.
Pro has no scientific basis for this, and it appears this is his own arbitrary conjecture. Pro needs to offer support for his position instead of asserting that such energy exists.
Fundamentally, pro is asking whether any “energy” was added to monkeys. No. Nor does there need to be other than via food.
Humans evolved a dissimilar shaped face, standing up right, loss of hair, and improved intelligence from apes over a period of millions of years.
The evidence indicates this occurred through a long period of evolution where human brains grew, they began standing upright - factors that all appear due to genetic mutations that compiled over time to change the way humans developed.
No additional energy is needed.
Conclusion:I have clearly shown that humans evolved, and that there is evidence of any purpose or cleat direction in our existence
This is all unchallenged by pro, and I extend it.
Pro has largely made an argument from ignorance - asking a series of questions that he feels can’t be answered by material explanations - then using this an argument to support the idea of Gods
Pro has not offered any argument to positive support the resolution.
Sources:[1]
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance[2]
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160616-monkeys-grieve-when-their-friends-die[3]
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229682-600-only-known-chimp-war-reveals-how-societies-splinter/[4]
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2079630-what-do-chimp-temples-tell-us-about-the-evolution-of-religion/
The only part that's grammatically wrong is to not have 'and' between 'prior' and 'fundamental' instead of the comma.
The resolution is written in completely correct English. It makes complete sense but people like you and Ramshutu struggle with comprehending that.
From my understanding, because this is philosophy, many of my arguments will stem from my personal understanding and common sense. Unless I am citing specific technical terms, statistics, etc., I will not be referencing to sources.
I will hopefully try to successfully answer your questions satisfactorily in this debate. I have given a introduction to some of my main arguments and in the upcoming arguments and rebuttals, maybe some of your questions and concerns can be answered. :)
" In order for a being such as amoeba to move to a higher level, to adapt to the theory of evolution, while the amoeba engages in production, energy must be added, That energy is a plus, and the amoeba themselves cannot generate this plus power."
There's this thing called a metabolic process that allows organisms through various means to produce energy. Cyanobacteria use CO2 and sunlight. Amoebas, I believe, eat bacteria or something. Humans do this thing called eating.
And the amoeba isn't personally evolving like a pokemon. Tiny mutations and natural selection allow for a species to change over time, eventually into another species, though how the distinction is defined is unclear to me. Fossil records show no intermediaries that I know of. Sure, there's archaeopteryx displaying the evolution of birds from reptiles, but it doesn't demonstrate the intermediary between CLOSE species, like a common raven and a chihuahuan raven. At one point did a common raven or an ancestor lay an egg and hatch a chihuahuan raven?
Last round can be for rebuttals (mainly) and if you wish arguments that you can still present. I also want to keep it as open as possible. :)
I personally prefer flexible and open styles of debate, with rebuttals, summaries and no new arguments being presented in the final round; but if you want to have summary only in the final round, I will be happy with that too.
I just want to clarify the last round to be mainly for closing and final statements.
I am new to this website so I am not sure how long it usually takes for someone to accept a challenge.
Note: acceptance rounds are not needed in Dart, if you wanted to have three rounds of argument, I’m fine with that.
This is a philosophical debate.