Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote thetheory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberately improved themselves through progressive inherited change (orthogenesis).[1][2] Theteleological belief went on to includecultural evolution andsocial evolution.[1] In the 1970s, the term "Neo-Evolutionism" was used to describe the idea that "human beings sought to preserve a familiar style of life unless change was forced on them by factors that were beyond their control."[3]
The term is most often used bycreationists to describe adherence to the scientific consensus on evolution as equivalent to asecular religion.[4] The term is very seldom used within the scientific community, since the scientific position on evolution is accepted by the overwhelming majority of scientists.[5] Because evolutionary biology is the default scientific position, it is assumed that "scientists" or "biologists" are "evolutionists" unless specifically noted otherwise.[6] In thecreation–evolution controversy, creationists often call those who accept the validity of the modern evolutionary synthesis "evolutionists" and the theory itself "evolutionism".
Before its use to describe biological evolution, the term "evolution" was originally used to refer to any orderly sequence of events with the outcome somehow contained at the start.[7] The first five editions of Darwin's inOrigin of Species used the word "evolved", but the word "evolution" was only used in its sixth edition in 1872.[8] By then,Herbert Spencer had developed the concept theory that organisms strive to evolve due to an internal "driving force" (orthogenesis) in 1862.[7] Edward B. Tylor and Lewis H Morgan brought the term "evolution" to anthropology though they tended toward the older pre-Spencerian definition helping to form the concept ofunilineal (social) evolution used during the later part of what Trigger calls the Antiquarianism-Imperial Synthesis period (c1770-c1900).[9] The term evolutionism subsequently came to be used for the now discredited theory that evolution contained a deliberate component, rather than the selection ofbeneficial traits fromrandom variation bydifferential survival.
The termevolution is widely used, but the termevolutionism is not used in thescientific community to refer toevolutionary biology as it is redundant and anachronistic.[6]
However, the term has been used by creationists in discussing thecreation–evolution controversy.[6] For example, theInstitute for Creation Research, in order to imply placement of evolution in the category of 'religions', includingatheism,fascism,humanism andoccultism, commonly uses the wordsevolutionism andevolutionist to describe the consensus of mainstream science and the scientists subscribing to it, thus implying through language that the issue is a matter of religious belief.[10] TheBioLogos Foundation, an organization that promotes the idea oftheistic evolution, uses the term "evolutionism" to describe "the atheistic worldview that so often accompanies the acceptance of biological evolution in public discourse." It views this as a subset ofscientism.[11][non-primary source needed]
a widely held 19c belief that organisms were intrinsically bound to improve themselves, that changes were progressive, and that acquired characters could be transmitted genetically. The belief was also extended to cultures and societies, and to living organisms.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)A major complaint of the Creationists, those who are committed to a Genesis-based story of origins, is that evolution--and Darwinism in particular--is more than just a scientific theory. They object that too often evolution operates as a kind of secular religion, pushing norms and proposals for proper (or, in their opinion, improper) action.
...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being,evolved (italics not in original)
In fact, true science supports the Biblical worldview... However, science does not support false religions (e.g. atheism, evolutionism, pantheism, humanism, etc.)
While BioLogos accepts evolution, it emphatically rejects evolutionism, the atheistic worldview that so often accompanies the acceptance of biological evolution in public discourse. Proponents of evolutionism believe every aspect of life will one day be explained with evolutionary theory. In this way it is a subset of scientism, the broader view that the only real truth is that which can be discovered by science. These positions are commonly held by materialists (also called philosophical naturalists) who deny the existence of the supernatural.
