Inferring and Explaining

70 of special creation should be interpreted in our context as a rival explanation for the facts that Darwin offered in support of descent with modifcation. It will be helpful to distinguish two versions of special creation. One accepted the book of Genesis as literal history—all the earth’s species, as well as everything else, were individually created by God over the course of six, twenty-four-hour days. InferrIng and exPlaInIng t 1 . Fundamentalist special creation A second version of special creation that enjoyed more support among Darwin’s contemporaries in the scientifc community might be termed relaxed special creation. It conceded some of the data about biological change and allowed that divine creation of individual species took place at diferent times in the history of the earth and life. t 2 . Relaxed special creation The Expanded Age of the Earth Te frst part of Darwin’s case for descent with modifcation consisted of a review of, indeed a powerful subargument for, the relatively new estimates of the age of the earth. e 1 . The earth is much older than had been previously believed—thousands of millions of years. Tis was essential to his theory, for a great deal of time was required for the sort of biological change he was postulating. It’s doubtful that any theory such as common descent could have come before the discovery of “geologic time.” We should pause here to notice something general about inference to the best explana- tion. You will remember that in chapter 4 we treated the premises in an argument as data and the theory being defended as an expla- nation of the data. Tat is actually a bit of an oversimplifcation. Ofentimes, important facts will be included in the premises that are not explained by the conclusion but are relevant to that conclusion being an adequate explana- tion of those data that are being accounted for. Charlie’s being a poor writer was not explained by his being a cheater but was still relevant for this explaining the identical exams. Descent with modifcation does not explain a much more ancient earth than previous generations had believed, but it is required for descent with modifcation to work. The Fossil Record Darwin spends a great deal of time discussing fossils, and well he might. Whatever else it tells us, it virtually screams out change. Let us now see whether the several facts and rules relating to the geological succession of organic beings, better accord with the common view of the immuta- bility of species, or with that of their slowand gradual modifcation, through descent and natural selection. 3 We see species that once thrived and are now extinct. We see progressions such as the changes in the American horse. His emphasis on fossils shows us that he saw this as a particularly strong bit of evidence. e 2 . The fossil record