Diversity, Necessity, and Evolution

Abstract

Diversity The rich and bewildering diversity of life forms inhabiting the earth has intrigued humankind for centuries. Why should living things appear as paramecia and hummingbirds, as sequoia trees and giraffes? For many centuries the answer to this question was provided by the creationists. They claimed that the diversity of life was a result and expression of God's bountiful nature: In the fullness of his power and love he chose to create the wonderful variety of living things we encounter on our planet. By the middle of the nineteenth century, and especially after the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859, the religious explanation of diversity was challenged by a scientific one. According to this new interpretation, both the diversification of life at any given moment and the emergence of novel living forms throughout time were the result of an evolutionary process. In support of Darwin's theories, biologists have proceeded to identify and name more than 1.5 million species of flora and fauna and have accounted for this diversity by means of reproductive variability and natural selection. Another example of diversity of forms on this earth, however, has been often overlooked or too readily taken for granted — the diversity of things made by human hands. To this category belongs “the vast universe of objects used by humankind to cope with the physical world, to facilitate social intercourse, to delight our fancy, and to create symbols of meaning.”