Page 44 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The Errors of the American National Academy of Sciences

those which survive.
When we ask "Who are
the fittest?," we are told
"Those which survive."
The answer to the ques-

tion "Who survives?" is
"The fittest." This means
that natural selection is
"the survival of the sur-
vivors." This is circular
reasoning.
Some evolutionists
maintain that natural se-
Atautology is a statement that appears to provide infor-
mation, but actually does nothing of the sort. "All hats lection is not a tautology,
are hats" is a simple example of a tautology. This is a
true statement, but one which provides no information. and that this is a misinter-
pretation by the propo-
nents of Creation. The fact is, however, that prominent evolutionists also
accept that natural selection is a tautology. That is why we feel the need
to devote some space to statements by prominent evolutionists main-
taining that natural selection is indeed tautological.
For example, the British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane accepts the tau-

tological nature of natural selection by saying: "...the phrase 'survival
of the fittest' is something of a tautology." 7
Professor of Ecology R.H. Peters from Canada's McGill University
also states that theories of evolution are tautological and that they can-
not be regarded as scientific:
I argue that the "theory of evolution" does not make predictions, so
far as ecology is concerned, but is instead a logical formula which can
be used only to classify empiricisms [theories] and to show the rela-
tionships which such a classification implies. These theories are actu-
ally tautologies and, as such, cannot make empirically testable

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