Aceitação da teoria da evolução no sudoeste do Paraná

Abstract

The biological evolution is a controversal topic and in na attempt to explain how life came about, many myths, hypotheses and theories appeared, involving beliefs, religion and Science. Considering the discussions that involve creationism versus evolutionism, the Brazilian cultural diversity and the yearning to diagnose the acceptance of evolutionary theory in the present day, the present research aimed to investigate the opinions on the subject, as well as characterize possible correlations of socioeconomic level, schooling, gender, age and religious beliefs of the participants about their conceptions of life origin and evolution. The study was developed through the application of questionnaires, with questions regarding the profile of participants and their point of view on the origin of life, natural selection, adaptation, common ancestry, science and religion. Participated in the study 80 individuals, subdivided into four pre-defined groups from the Southwest region of Paraná. After analyzing and interpreting all the data, a data matrix containing the 80 interviewees and the 16 variables that composed the questionnaires were elaborated. A linear discriminant analysis of Fisher was performed. It was observed that there are considerable differences between the conceptions of the four groups and that the most different opinions were of the professors of the University and of the general community, being that the teachers of Basic Education and the academics of Biological Sciences were between these two groups. The professors of the University and the academics of Biological Sciences accept more about the subjects of origin of life, natural selection, adaptation and common ancestry, however, insofar as the subject involves Science and Religion there is more uniformity, being not possible to characterize the group more or Less creationist. Schooling was the variable with greater discriminant power between the groups, and the lower the level of education, the lower the knowledge and acceptance of subjects related to Evolution. The variables Religion, income, age and gender had no correlation with accepting more or less evolutionary theory. The analysis showed that there is religious flexibility and that following a religion is not synonymous with not accepting evolutionary biology. In this sense, we conclude that the majority of the population understands that there are differences between religious, cultural and scientific knowledge and that these can coexist peacefully.