Controversy Catastrophism and Evolution: The Ongoing Debate

by Trevor Palmer

Overview

In Controversy, Trevor Palmer fully documents how traditional gradualistic views of biological and geographic evolution are giving way to a catastrophism that credits cataclysmic events, such as meteorite impacts, for the rapid bursts and abrupt transitions observed in the fossil record.
According to the catastrophists, new species do not evolve gradually; they proliferate following sudden mass extinctions. Placing this major change of perspective within the context of a range of ancient debates, Palmer discusses such topics as the history of the solar system, present-day extraterrestrial threats to earth, hominid evolution, and the fossil record.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306457517
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	02/28/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	452
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

1. The Context of Evolution: The Earth and Its Surroundings.- 2. The Establishment of Gradualism.- 3. Gradualism under Challenge.- 4. Nemesis for Evolutionary Gradualism?.- 5. The Erratic Descent of Man.- 6. Toward a New Evolutionary Synthesis.- Postscript—The Hammer and The Pendulum.- References.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"Trevor Palmer … provides in this volume a chronicle of the emergence of catastrophe evidence and thought. He explores planetary science, paleontology, geology, and evolution, with emphasis on human evolution from about 1970 to 1999, but with substantial expeditions into the history of astronomy and evolutionary theory … . it is … a major contribution to understanding the growth of the present position. … Palmer thoroughly documents the K-T extinction dispute." (Hiram Caton, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, Vol. 25 (3-4), 2005)

From the Publisher