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Evolution of Living Organisms, med undertiteln "Evidence for a new theory of transformation", av Pierre-Paul Grassé.

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• "Allt levande innehåller en enorm mängd 'intelligens'...Idag, kallas denna 'intelligens' för 'information,' men det är fortfarande samma sak... Denna 'intelligens' är en nödvändig förutsättning för liv. Om inte närvarande är ingen levande varelse tänkbar. Var kommer det [intelligensen] ifrån? Detta är ett problem som angår både biologer och filosofer, och, för närvarande, verkar vetenskapen oförmögen att lösa det." - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.2

• Zoologer och botaniker är närapå enhälliga i att anse evolutionen som fakta och inte en hypotes. Jag håller med om denna ståndpunkt och baserar det primärt på dokument från paleontologin, det är, historia om den levande världen. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.3

• Naturalister måste komma ihåg att evolutionsprocessen är uppenbar endast genom fossila former. Kunskap om paleontologin är, därför, en förutsättning; endast paleontologin kan tillhandahålla dem med bevisen för evolutionen och uppenbara dess förlopp eller mekanismer. Varken undersökningar av nuvarande varelser eller föreställningsförmåga, eller teorier kan tjäna som substitut för paleontologiska dokument. Om de ignorerar dem, kommer biologerna, naturens filosofer, att hänge sig åt ändlösa kommentarer och kan endast få fram hypoteser. Det är varför vi konstant tar vår tillflykt till paleontologin, den enda sanna vetenskapen om evolution. Från den lär vi oss att varsamt tolka nuvarande händelserförlopp; det avslöjar att vissa hypoteser, hållna för att vara visshet av deras förespråkare, i själva verket är tvivelaktiga eller t.o.m. ogrundade. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.4

• Through use and abuse of hidden postulates, of bold, often ill-founded extrapolations, a pseudoscience has been created. It is taking root in the very heart of biology and is leading astray many biochemists and biologists, who sincerely believe that the accuracy of fundamental concepts has been demonstrated, which is not the case. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.6

• Idag är det vår plikt att förstöra myten om evolutionen ansedd för att vara en simpelt, förtått, och förklarat fenomen som håller på att snabbt rulla upp sig inför oss. Biologer måste uppmanas att tänka på svagheterna i tolkningarna och överdrifterna som teoretiker lägger fram eller fastställer som etablerade sanningar. Bedrägeriet är ibland omedvetet, men inte alltid, eftersom vissa människor, på grund av sin sekterism, avsiktligen förbigår verkligheten och vägrar att vidgå bristfälligheten och osanningen i deras tro. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.8

• It follows that any explanation of the mechanism in creative evolution of the fundamental structural plans is heavily burdened with hypotheses. This should appear as an epigraph to every book on evolution. The lack of direct evidence leads to the formation of pure conjectures as to the genesis of the phyla; we do not even have a basis to determine the extent to which these opinions are correct. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.31

• What is the use of their unceasing mutations, if they do not change? In sum, the mutations of bacteria and viruses are merely hereditary fluctuations around a median position; a swing to the right, a swing to the left, but no final evolutionary effect. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.87

• Bacteria, the study of which has formed a great part of the foundation of genetics and molecular biology, are the organisms which, because of their huge numbers, produce the most mutants. This is why they gave rise to an infinite variety of species, called strains, which can be revealed by breeding or tests. Like Erophila verna, bacteria, despite their great production of intraspecific varieties, exhibit a great fidelity to their species. The bacillus Escherichia coli, whose mutants have been studied very carefully, is the best example. The reader will agree that it is surprising, to say the least, to want to prove evolution and to discover its mechanisms and then to choose as a material for this study a being which practically stabilized a billion years ago! - Evolution of Living Organisms(1977) p.87

• Some contemporary biologists, as soon as they observe a mutation, talk about evolution. They are implicitly supporting the following syllogism: mutations are the only evolutionary variations, all living beings undergo mutations, therefore all living beings evolve. This logical scheme is, however, unacceptable: first, because its major premise is neither obvious nor general; second, because its conclusion does not agree with the facts. No matter how numerous they may be, mutations do not produce any kind of evolution. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.88

• Some contemporary biologists, as soon as they observe a mutation, talk about evolution. They are implicitly supporting the following syllogism: mutations are the only evolutionary variations, all living beings undergo mutations, therefore all living beings evolve. This logical scheme is, however, unacceptable: first, because its major premise is neither obvious nor general; second, because its conclusion does not agree with the facts. No matter how numerous they may be, mutations do not produce any kind of evolution. - Evolution of Living Organisms(1977) p.88

• Once one has noticed microvariations (on the one hand) and specific stability (on the other), it seems very difficult to conclude that the former (microvariation) comes into play in the evolutionary process. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.88

• Although everything is not as it should be, the living world is not at all chaotic and life results from a very well-defined order.

• As soon as some disorder, even slight, appears in an organized being, sickness, then death follow. There is no possible compromise between the phenomenon of life and anarchy. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.98

• The opportune appearance of mutations permitting animals and plants to meet their needs seems hard to believe. Yet the Darwinian theory is even more demanding: a single plant, a single animal would require thousands and thousands of lucky, appropriate events. Thus, miracles would become the rule: events with an infinitesimal probability could not fail to occur. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.103

• There is no law against day dreaming, but science must not indulge in it. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.104

• The genic differences noted between separate populations of the same species that are so often presented as evidence of ongoing evolution are, above all, a case of the adjustment of a population to its habitat and of the effects of genetic drift. The fruitfly (drosophila melanogaster), the favorite pet insect of the geneticists, whose geographical, biotropical, urban, and rural genotypes are now known inside out, seems not to have changed since the remotest times. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) p.130

• It is possible that in this domain biology, impotent, yields the floor to metaphysics. - Evolution of Living Organisms (1977)

Externa länkar

• Citat om evolution av Pierre Grasse. (engelska)