"One of the specific ploys I 've seen them use time & amp ; again is to say that natural selection is either a tautology ... I seem to take a different approach to this objection than most people . The principle of NS is so painfully obvious that I have trouble understanding why people have trouble understanding it . For this reason , I can see how it does sometimes come across as tautologous . Two plus two may be four because we 've defined two and four that way , but that does n't make the equation untrue . Likewise , that those genes that help animals be better able to pass on their genes will be passed on more often ( due to whatever specifics ) is true regardless of objection . Whatever works , works . Those mosquitoes that are n't drawn to the zapper live ; those that are die . Those animals that can withstand the frigid winter live ; those that ca n't freeze . Why is this so hard to understand ? Maybe I 'm misunderstanding the objection ?"
"The tautology argument is rooted in the Spencerian epithet for natural selection , `` survival of the fittest. `` Which organisms survive ? The fittest . Which are the fittest ? Those who survive . But of course , `` survival of the fittest `` is n't a very good statement of the theory of natural selection . Darwin did n't like it and only began using it due to the encouragement of Wallace after it had become popular . It first appeared in `` On The Origin Of Species `` in the 4th edition , and it was never used without an explicit reference to natural selection . I never saw natural selection as being in the slightest tautological before . I too have found natural selection to be painfully obvious . I see what you are saying , but I do n't actually see that as a tautology . Early on I learned that natural selection was differential reproductive success . Perhaps I had good teachers . In that light , natural selection is a statistical tendency for some genetic alleles to be passed along more than others . Once that concept was grasped , population genetics was a logical consequence ."
"One of the specific ploys I 've seen them use time & again is to say that natural selection is either a tautology ..."
"The tautology argument is rooted in the Spencerian epithet for natural selection ,"