APS Box — Evolution Explains Origins, Not Organisation

Evolution explains how biological organisation originated and changed through time.

It does not explain organisation away.

The success of evolutionary theory can create the impression that once a natural origin has been identified, no further explanation is required. APS rejects this conclusion.

Explaining how a system arose is not the same as explaining the organisation that makes it function.

Eyes, immune systems, developmental processes, physiological regulation, and behaviour all possess forms of organisation that remain real regardless of how they originated. Evolutionary explanations account for their historical emergence. Biological explanations must also account for the organisational relations that contribute to viability and persistence.

Evolution explains the origins of biological organisation.

It does not make organisation disappear.