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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004
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Claim CB925:

We do not see creatures in various stages of completion. In the past, according to evolutionary theory, there were half-birds, half-dogs, etc. We see nothing like that now.

Response:

  1. Evolution does not predict incomplete creatures. In fact if we ever saw such a thing it would pretty much disprove evolution. In order to survive, all creatures must be sufficiently adapted to their environment; thus, they must be complete in some sense.

    The basic false assumption here is twofold: first, that intermediates are necessarily incomplete, and second that once variation beyond the "type" is allowed, any and all variation is allowed (this latter is typological or essentialist thinking).

  2. We see many creatures in transitional stages. These may be considered incomplete in that they do not have all the same features and abilities of similar or related creatures:


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created 2003-6-10, modified 2003-9-3