Samuel on evolution being no strong scientific explanation
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Misquoted Person
Quote
'The concept of evolution cannot be considered a strong scientific explanation for the presence of the diverse forms of life,' concludes evolutionist Edmund Samuel in his book Order: In Life. Why not? He adds: 'No fine analysis of biogeographic distribution or of the fossil record can directly support evolution.'
Source
Anon, 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here?, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., p. 70.
Original quote
...on the whole, evolution has been extremely beneficial in ordering our thoughts. On the other hand, the concept of evolution cannot be considered a strong scientific explanation for the presence of the diverse forms of life in space and time. It must remain as a rather low level explanation to any purist. This is because the data must be used circumstantially and no fine analysis of biogeographic distribution or of the fossil record can directly support evolution. Biogeographic data are so complex that even with island studies only the rough generalities similar to those Darwin found for Galapagos can be stated. The fossil record is very uneven and so scarce that fine points regarding the pathways of evolution remain obscure... (not verified)
The content of the omitted portions at the beginning and end of the original quote show that it is not Samuel's intention to indicate his lack of support in general for evolution. Note that the misquote begins both sentences in the middle, yet capitalizes the first words and does not use ellipses, giving no indication that there was anything more to the thoughts.
The omitted portion in the middle of the original quote is critical to the point that Samuel is trying to make. He is arguing that evolution is not a strong explanation in a philosophical sense but rather depends on circumstantial evidence.
Original source
Edmund Samuel, Order: In Life, pp. 120-122, 1972. (not verified)
References
Feuerbacher, Alan. Part 4: The Transformation of Species. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
