How does evolution unify all of biology?

Question

How does evolution unify all of biology?

Answer 1

Ah wonderful wonderful question. Without evolution, there IS no Biology. Biology is the culmination of eons of evolution. Biology is the study of nature's responses to its environment. Biology is the study of life yes, but life as it exists and all of its structures therein, are the results of nature's wonderful methods of adapting to that which it was presented. Without evolution, there can be no biology.

Answer 2

Because the whole of biology is subject to it.

Answer 3

Biology is the study of life, and the diversity of life is attributed to its evolution.

Answer 4

I will quote the great Theodosius Dobzansky. " Nothing in biology make sense, except in the light of evolution. " We would not have the ghost of an idea how and why biological systems work if we did not have the overarching theory of evolution by natural selection. People knew things evolved before Darwin and Wallace came on the scene, but they did not know the how or why until the theory of natural selection was proposed as the mechanism of evolution.

That is why science is coherent; overarching theory. That is also why social science is not; no overarching theory.

Answer 5

i guess it depends on your personal belief system. The definition of biology... "the science of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena, esp. with reference to origin, growth, reproduction, structure, and behavior."

so as someone said previously... "Without evolution, there can be no biology," i highly disagree. Biology and evolution do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. Example) A woman gives birth to a child (reproduction). How is evolution culminated in this situation? It isn't, at all. But biology surely exist in this scenario.

Evolution does not unify all biology. But again, I believe that your personal belief system highly dictates your correct answer (evolution vs creationism vs combintation of both vs anything else).

Answer 6

Evolution makes biology make sense.  Without it, you can collect all sorts of data, but there's no theory behind the data.  It'd be like high school physics class without Newton.  Yeah, the ball always falls, but without the equations, you can't make any predictions about how fast other balls will fall.  Evolutionary theory allows biologists to make predictions: about breeding, medicine, and all sorts of things.  It also allows biologists to understand _why_ certain things happen.  Not only can you predict a baby's eye color based on who their parents are, but you can also hypothesize reasons why that eye color is present in the first place.

Answer 7

By definition: it's a tautology.

An interesting, though particularly offensive example was chosen by Esquire Magazine several years ago in their 'Dubious Achievements' issue, where they cited as "Best Tautology" a poster by the Ku Klux Klan.  It said:

"If you are White today, it is because your ancestors practised separation of the races."