Rapaire told us:

Darwinian evolution requires species to become extinct so that new species can replace them.

I have to raise my eyebrows at this! This sounds highly teleological, at least as phrased.

I admit that Darwin, in The Origin of Species, (which I just finished re-reading) phrases things in teleological-sounding terms too. But clearly, from context, he means (and sometimes says outright) that species necessarily will become extinct in the process of natural selection, as they are pushed out by the new and improved species.

So, to paraphrase your sentence above, Darwinian evolution causes species to become extinct as new species replace them.

But to "require species to become extinct" so that something else can happen is illogical. It puts the extinction before the development of the new species, and logically implies a creative intention, a choice of final target, so to speak, behind the whole process. Which Darwin certainly never states exists.

Dave Oesterreich