Page 108 - Love in the Torah

106 L LOVE IN THE TORAH

Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger
and more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will survive
in the struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under the threat of
attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will survive. There-
fore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and stronger individuals.
However, unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause deer to evolve
and transform themselves into another living species, for instance,
horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolution-
ary power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in
his book The Origin of Species:
Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differences or vari-
ations occur. (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Se-
lection, The Modern Library, New York, p. 127)

LAMARCK’S FALLACY

So, how could these “favorable variations” occur? Darwin tried
to answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive under-
standing of science at that time. According to the French biologist
Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829), who lived before Darwin, living
creatures passed on the traits they acquired