What’s in a phrase?

Mike Dunford posted Entry 1322 on August 10, 2005 03:38 PM.
Trackback URL: http://www.pandasthumb.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.fcgi/1320

“…the present diversity of living organisms, explained by the biological theory of evolution, or descent with modification of organisms from common ancestors.”

“…the present diversity of living organisms, which the biological theory of evolution, or descent with modification of organisms from common ancestors, seeks to explain.”

The two statements above are, at least superficially, very similar to each other. The phrasing isn’t quite the same, and the second version is a bit more tentative than the first, but they say more or less the same thing. So why am I bringing this up?

The first statement is from an early version of the Kansas State Board of Education science standards; the second is from the draft that they just approved. And it’s just one example of how the KSBOE is trying to cripple the teaching of evolution in their state.

Continue reading (on The Questionable Authority)

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Comment #42011

Posted by kay on August 10, 2005 4:53 PM (e)

The difference is between “successfully explains” and “tries to explain”… i guess it depends on the followup. newtonian physics “seeks to explain” planetary motion too, and technically fails at it (if you’re a nitpicker, an astrophysicist, or your job involves GPS satellites).

Let’s not quote them out of context just because they do. :)