Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the earth
was the centre of a universe that was at most a few million miles in
extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this
centre. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the universe was
created essentially in its present state about 6000 years ago. Less than
150 years ago, the special creation by God of living species was still
dominant. The relentless application of the scientific method of
inference from experiment and observation, without reference to
religious, or governmental authority has completely transformed our view
of our origins and relation to the universe, in less than 500 years. Few
would dispute that this programme has been spectacularly successful,
particularly in the twentieth century.
This audiobook is about the crucial role of evolutionary biology in
transforming our view of human origins and relation to the universe, and
the impact of this idea on traditional philosophy and religion. The
purpose of this audiobook is to introduce the general listener to some
of the most important basic findings, concepts, and procedures of
evolutionary biology, as it has developed since the first publications
of Darwin and Wallace on the subject, over 140 years ago. Evolution
provides a unifying set of principles for the whole of biology; it also
illuminates the relation of human beings to the universe and each other.
In addition, many aspects of evolution have practical importance; for
instance, the rapid evolution of resistance by bacteria to antibiotics
and of HIV to antiviral drugs are pressing medical problems.
