Darwin's 'Imaginary Illustrations': Creatively Teaching Evolutionary Concepts & the Nature of Science

摘要

From its original presentation to its current incarnations, the supporting empirical evidence has gone from strength to strength, though not equally on all fronts and certainly with a good dose of controversy. [...] imagine the surprise when readers of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species encounter the following passage under the heading "Illustrations of the Action of Natural Selection": "In order to make clear how, as I believe, natural selection acts, I must beg permission to give one or two imaginary illustrations" (Darwin, 1964 [1859]: p. 90).