Study Guide: Chapter 4 — Creation

Core Idea

Knowledge is created by variation and selection only — conjecture and criticism. Evolution and thought are the two known instances; neither copies knowledge from outside. Creationism (knowledge from authority) is false in every costume, including Lamarckism and inductivism.

Key Terms

Neo-Darwinism · replicator · creationism (generalized) · variation-selection · Paley's watch

Case Summary

Paley's watch given full force, then overthrown by Darwin's varying replicators filtered by survival. Gene-centric view: adaptations are genes' survival knowledge.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Find where you refine one anointed idea without generating rivals (Lamarckism)
• [ ] Check your last selection round actually killed variants — by criticism, not politics
• [ ] Spot "learning from the market" that's really conjecture-and-selection

Self-Test

1. Why is knowledge created, not transmitted?
2. How are Neo-Darwinism and Popperian epistemology the same theory?
3. What are the two failure modes (no variation / no selection)?