2007-03-04 21:26:05 · 14 answers · asked by Josh C 1 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Why do you single out evolution?
Why do we study art?
Why do we study the patterns ripples make on the water?
Why do we study maths?
Why do we study bricklaying?
Why do we study seeds and cells and leaves and stems?
Why do we study heat and dark and friction and chaos and entropy, beauty, war, sex, small eight legged arthropods, stamps, TV, rocket science, hairdressing, reading, music, bubbles, crystals, grammar, ritual, gravity, food additives, whales and recursive algorithms?
What is it about evolution that you question why we study it?
I study evolution because I want to know more about the world in which I live, same reason i study anything.
2007-03-05 03:34:03 · answer #1 · answered by rizole 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Evolution is the foundation for biology and anthropology.
In biology, every bit of research on the human body is helped by studying the animal body- if there were no relation,there would be no help.
In anthropology, we use evolution to try to understand archaic humankind. Theories about tool use, tribal systems and the like are influenced by primates and by archaeology. If there was no evolution, we'd have no clue at all.
We also study evolution because there are ignorant people who attribute all sorts of things to evolution that aren't a part of evolution. In order to understand the debate, you need to understand evolution. I've yet to meet an evolution opponent who understood it at all.
2007-03-08 14:39:29 · answer #2 · answered by LabGrrl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because it is the only science with good evidence to describe how we got to be what we are.
Because it is such a great theory.
Because you can link it to just about any other branch of science.
Because, in years to come, say, 2000 years, assuming we survive, people will have changed and modified how they practice their religions, but the theory of evolution will still be basically the same. And if we don't survive, evolution will still go on regardless, possibly with rats taking over the world. In a million years, if the rats become more intelligent, learn to read and write in their own fashion, develop science, then look at old indelible records we we have left behind, decipher them, and will understand how they developed. So we have to study it in order to leave this evidence.
Sorry, is that a bit of a stretch of imagination?
2007-03-06 02:07:49 · answer #3 · answered by Labsci 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At best, the theory of Evolution is pure mental masturbation. But I'll give it credit for framing scientific inquiry leading to some amazing discoveries. Wish I knew some off the top of my head...Why does new hair growth not evolve once testosterone levels devolve below the residual machismo quiescent point?
Evolution is still theory despite many peoples' attempt to palm it off as law. The theory has presently evolved into its highest state of existence - dogmatic religion!
Earf!
2007-03-08 07:55:42 · answer #4 · answered by TzodEarf 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Evolution is biology's unifying theory. You can't study biology without studying it, because evolutionary theory explains pretty much everything in bio. It'd be like trying to understand high school physics without ever mentioning Newton's laws.
Why do we study biology? Because we still haven't found a cure for cancer.
2007-03-06 22:41:28 · answer #5 · answered by random6x7 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To understand the truth about human origins, as well as how biological species change over time.
A better question is: Why would you not study evolution?
Or: Why are some people incapable of seeing the sublime in scientific fact?
2007-03-05 08:59:45 · answer #6 · answered by Lenny43 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Or a better question: why do we study "adaptation." Because no one has yet proved actual evolution: ie one species becoming another distinct species over time. On the other hand, adaptation is both provable an observable...
And, yes - this really is facinating to see how a species will adapt in order to survive changes in the environment, adaptations in the predators/prey in their eco-system, etc. Studying these changes may lead humans to be able to speed up their own adaptive processes (and maybe even those of other species) in order to respond better to threats like global warming.
2007-03-05 15:57:58 · answer #7 · answered by tracymoo 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You're not atheist probably. Well, i think only primary schools teach evolution. other religious schools teach eve and the apple thing. So you choose to learn the origin of life from the evolution point of view.
2007-03-05 14:54:55 · answer #8 · answered by kriskris 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because it is fascinating. It shows us (besides plenty of facts important for medicine, understanding of biology, our own nature... etc) how miraculous life can be and how difficult structures can arise following several relatively simple laws.
2007-03-05 09:53:00 · answer #9 · answered by zuska m 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because it is one of the most powerful scientific ideas of the modern world. It is basically the unifying theory of biology.
2007-03-05 20:59:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋