Shapiro/Harold: ‘no detailed Darwinian accounts’

‘We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitution of intelligent design for the dialogue of chance and necessity; we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations.’

Franklin M. Harold,^* 2001. The way of the cell: molecules, organisms and the order of life, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 205.

^*Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Colorado State University, USA

Since posting this quote, we have discovered that Harold’s statement was heavily influenced by a 1996 article by Professor James Shapiro, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago. Shapiro remains an evolutionist but has proposed ‘natural genetic engineering’ as an alternative to the neo-Darwinian model of evolution. He wrote:

’Surely, then, contemporary Darwinists have answers to rebut critics like Professor Behe. In fact, there are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of any fundamental biochemical or cellular systems, only a variety of wishful speculations. It is remarkable that Darwinism is accepted as a satisfactory explanation for such a vast subject—evolution—with so little rigorous examination of how well its basic theses work in illuminating specific instances of adaptation or diversity.’

Shapiro, J.A., National Review, 16 September 1996, pp. 62-65 (emphasis added); see shapiro.bsd.uchicago.edu/Shapiro.1996.Nat%27lReview.pdf