What to account for

PUBLISHER:

redshirt

Shaun Johnston:
In modern times we've made two revolutionary discoveries. One is, how changes in physical matter can be accounted for in terms of physical laws that can predict precisely what will happen next. Having given rise to science (how this can be studied) and industry (how it can be applied) this revolution is well under way.

The second revolution is, how emergence of species of living creatures can be accounted for in terms of them evolving from one another. This revolution, despite its promise of how much it could tell us about ourselves, remains stillborn through the mistaken application to it of principles coming out of the first revolution--reductive physicalism.

For this second revolution to advance it should be taken from under the wing of science and studied on its own terms. Tip: one recent product of evolution is creatures with minds. Minds are better studied through methods of the humanities than through those of science. Tell me, does this interest you?

Details: Written by Shaun Johnston Shaun Johnston; Published: July 8, 2014 July 8, 2014; Hits: 3380 3380

What must a theory of evolution account for? Mulling over that I had a brief attack of vertigo. What are living creatures? Dizzyingly complex somethings, of which I know next to nothing. Yet that I must know before I can say how they evolve. Bodies are structured increasingly precisely down the the nano scale. They routinely grow from single cells to trillions of cells in tissues precisely structured over distances of up to dozens of feet. The matter in those tissues is turned over several times a year even as those tissues continue to function, without impairment of that function. Living creatures can manifest volition, can become conscious, and express their conscious thoughts in their behaviors. Can these various capabilities be imagined evolving separately, or should they all be accountable for in terms of a single process? Darwin's example won't help us here, he was concerned only with the origin of species. We are condemned by how much more we know to tackle much more daunting questions. So many centuries of study will it take even to begin to understand life that I feel like no more than a tiny ant questioning the origin of the solar system.

I hope I feel better tomorrow. Can anyone help me? Some ideas...