Theory and Consensus articles focus on the theoretical consensus developments across science disciplines, as reported in the literature. While the theory of evolution is generalized thinking about the phenomenon, a consensus is a professionally defined explanation.
For the articles in this category, the writing style is scientific journalism featuring linked references with linked quotes from the investigators and experts in the field.
Goals of a Consensus
A scientific consensus represents an agreement developed by field specialists, even though the agreement may not be unanimous. As a result of new theoretical developments or further research, the consensus will eventually change – as the theory of evolution exemplifies.
While a consensus is not synonymous with “certain truth,” a consensus gives insight into the general opinions. A consensus provides a measure of confidence in an idea or theory. From healthcare to the environment, a consensus on antibiotics, vaccinations, and fluorinated water to climate change and evolution give public health officials guidance for the twenty-first century.
Consensus Publishing Organizations
While healthcare organizations use consensus guidelines to benchmark the quality of care, more than eighteen scientific societies, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to the American Medical Association (AMA), have developed a consensus on climate change.
Even since Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, technological advances have dramatically changed his theory. Professional scientific organizations advocating the theory of evolution are obligated to reach a consensus on biological evolution.
Consensus Importance for Evolution
With advances in biomolecular technologies in the late-twentieth-century consensus, however, competing ideas of evolution have emerged. Mutation and chromosomal changes, once envisioned as driving evolution, are now known to drive biological dysfunction and extinction, not evolution.
Since the genomic revolution, a consensus on a comprehensive theory of evolution has remained a minefield of competing ideas, leaving the theory without any scientific consensus from any professional organization advocating evolution.
Theory Development and Consensus
Beginning with the timeline of evolution history, gain an understanding of the dynamics driving evolutionary theory and consensus, select from the following menu –
. Darwin Then and Now is an educational resource on the intersection of evolution and science and the challenges facing the theory of evolution.
Suggested Reading Sequence
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