This lets us see that Haeckel thought that chimps and gorillas were closely related, and that orangutans and gibbons were closely related. But it also shows that that he didn't know who was most closely related to humans. Compare Haeckel's picture with our redrawn view of the relationships. Haeckel's tree explicitly embeds the notion of progress - things nearer the top are 'more evolved' or 'higher' and things nearer the bottom are 'less evolved' or 'lower'. This is Bunk.
Evolution is adaptation to local circumstances.
There is no general trend of gradual continuous progress in evolution. Evolution doesn't have a moral content - often given one. Quotes illustrating moral connotations various sorts Progress key issue series of quotes -Progress, humans at top. Gould - no progress. All Rights Reserved.