As in (most of) the rest of the world, France had its share of magazine cover stories, newspaper articles, and “dossiers” (special sections) in various publications in 2009 related to Charles Darwin. What seems to have characterized the discussions around evolution in France is not the clash with creationism that manifested itself in other parts of the world, but rather a new, more technical and nuanced debate about Darwinism vs. non-Darwinian evolution (sometimes small variations of Darwinism, other times radically different theories).
First, multi-faceted thinker Jean Staune (philosopher of science with a degree in paleontology, among several others), published “Beyond Darwin” in October, in which he argued that new evidence, and new work published in the past few years, seem to have given impetus to the theories advocating either adding new factors to evolution besides natural selection, or viewing things in a fresh new way, particularly in that there may be (so-far hidden) laws of nature that push for the emergence of particular biological features or organisms. People interested in the whole subject of evolution should remember the new buzz word “structuralism,” which succinctly represents the idea that forms are more important than “functions” in determining which organisms will emerge and have a chance to prosper and which will be disfavored (in an inherent manner).
via “Avatar” Adds Fuel to Discussions of Evolution – Science and Religion Today.
