Lectures on Evolution / Essay #3 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition"

The essay surveys competing hypotheses about the history of nature and defends evolution as a lawful, causal process. It sets out the expectation that living forms should be linked by gradations, then addresses the apparent absence of intermediate forms and the distinct breaks between major groups. Drawing on geological and fossil evidence — such as extensive track impressions and missing skeletal remains — it examines how preservation biases and taphonomic processes can erase or obscure evidence. The author concludes that imperfections in the geological record explain many apparent difficulties while distinguishing between evidence that supports evolution and evidence that would be demonstrative.