Semantics of Foundation Words continually evolve, their
connotations and definitions shift and are forgotten and
replaced as the generations pass. The mutability of language
causes people to connote certain words differently. This
semester, I am taking an course cross-listed in both English and
Biology called “The Story of Evolution and the Evolution of
Stories”. This comment from one of my classmates prompted my
essay: Because I misunderstood the way we were defining
‘foundational,’ I tried to build a claim about how [modern
evolutionary theory] was in fact ‘foundational,’ because it was
founded on scientific stories, just as the Great Chain of Being
was founded on people’s faith in God. It was eventually
explained that our functional definition of ‘foundational’
needed to be both ‘static’ and ‘purposeful’, and that my reasons
for legitimatizing my point were incorrect based on a
misunderstanding of the word itself. (Gisele) In class we
constantly discuss multi-layered concepts such as evolution or
foundatio