Table 3 Intuitive reasoning pattern: themes, definitions, and examples

Desire-based change

Use of mental states, skills or conscious effort to explain change

(Whale/hippo) some of the relatives discovered that they could subsist better in water; One decides it likes the water and the other one decides it likes the land

Static adaptation

References the organism-environment fit as the reason why a particular organism might be found in a particular location or have particular features

Hippos actually sleep in the water; (whale/hippo) the ones that were in the water, they had different ways of breathing than the animals on land

Adaptive feature list

Simply lists adaptive features of 1 or more organisms

(Whale/hippo) … its skull structure is different, its mouth is wide, and its nostrils are further forward and it has tusks

Goal-directed adaptation

(1) The organism changes to meet a need or purpose, a functional or adaptive goal-directed behavior

(Fly)… for their ability to survive, they needed longer wings or something; (whale/hippo) some of the animals moved onto land and they needed longer legs; … (diatom) gradual evolution into a more complicated life form

(2) The organism develops towards an inbuilt goal [no mention of need]

Proximate cause

(1) An agent brought the organism in from some place else

(Flies) certainly, the winds bring some things, well maybe like an animal brought it there

(2) The organism was always there, but was not detected

Well, your premise is faulty because how do you know there weren’t any [flies] that long ago?

Reproduction

Reference to reproduction, no clear reference to inherited features

(Flies) they kept mating; [Diatoms] apparently reproduce just by splitting;

Hybridization

2 unrelated animals interbred

Different … diatoms … mingled … and produced the … species