The impact of evolutionary theory on philosophy

[John Dibble]

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." - Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

Historically it was believed that all species in the world were immutable and unchanging, that each was a unique, special kind whose place in the world was well defined. Humans of course often considered themselves to be an extra special existence, oft favored by or at least of special interest to whatever gods or spirits their culture revered. But then a new idea came to the fore, one that shook the very foundations of how we view ourselves. This idea was that the different organisms inhabiting this world were not immutable, but rather changing constantly yet gradually, and that perhaps we shared common ancestry with them. While Charles Darwin was not the first to pose this idea, he was the first to publish a work that gave a credible mechanism by which this might occur, that being natural selection. As time has passed scientists have managed to refine and strengthen evolutionary theory, and the implications are quite great. Just as Galileo moved us away from the center of the universe, Darwin moved us away from the center of life itself.

We know very well that new ideas were spawned for this, or at least in some cases rationalizations for old ones, such as eugenics and social Darwinism. Yet at the same time many who accept evolution do not see it as a call for action, just that it's a fact. Some others might say that because humanity is a social species and has been arguably one of the most successful in the history of our planet that evolution shows that pro-social, ethical, moral behavior is one of the great successes of evolution.

So fellow forumites, what do you think?

[John Dibble]

Wasn't my intention to protest too much - I was speaking broadly so I had to generalize.

It is true that Darwin is generally acknowledged as the first to link the concepts of evolution and natural selection and for that he deserves credit, but I think that even if had never lived, the theory of evolution via natural selection would still have been proposed in the mid 19th-century.

Oh, most certainly. Alfred Russell Wallace was also onto it at the time, he just didn't publish first.

[John Dibble]

It's why it continues to be feared by people who are superstitious.

Huh? How so?  Do you see me lifting a finger to make adjustments to my religion to this supposed threat of Evolution?  Have I adjusted any of my doctrines to deal with this “fear”?

When you believe in an all powerful God who created the whole universe out of nothing, there’s nothing to fear except God, and you ESPECIALLY don’t fear theories that have admittedly reached dead ends.

For the love of cheese please stop taking such broad statements as being against you personally. I once again need to remind you that you are not the center of the universe, and that when someone is speaking broadly about "the religious", "the superstitious", or "Christians" they are not necessarily saying that every single person falling into that category meets whatever standard they are talking about, and afleitch's statement was not necessarily aimed at you.

If you would like an actual example of what afleitch is talking about, there is discussion about what many consider a rather disturbing trend in British universities - quite often Muslim students will walk out of biology classes when the subject being taught comes to evolutionary theory. Rather than learning what the actual position of science is, which would be the correct thing to do if they desired to refute it, they basically are just running away. Instead of learning what evolution actually is, they would prefer to continue to continue being able to knock down the straw man caricature of evolution that has been presented by certain segments of the religious community. The fear involved here likely has to do with the notion that their entire belief system would collapse if they accepted the notion. (which is absurd, seeing as massive religious organizations like the Catholic Church managed to make the necessary alterations to their theology to accommodate it)

[John Dibble]

It's why it continues to be feared by people who are superstitious.

Huh? How so?  Do you see me lifting a finger to make adjustments to my religion to this supposed threat of Evolution?  Have I adjusted any of my doctrines to deal with this “fear”?

When you believe in an all powerful God who created the whole universe out of nothing, there’s nothing to fear except God, and you ESPECIALLY don’t fear theories that have admittedly reached dead ends.

For the love of cheese please stop taking such broad statements as being against you personally.

then maybe he should have included the word "some" or even "few", then I wouldn't have taken it to be a broad statement

I didn't say it wasn't a broad statement, in fact I said it was one. I'm telling you not to take every broad statements as being universal - he didn't use the word "all", and I would think it obvious that afleitch knows that not all religious people are anti-evolution.

[John Dibble]

I'm gonna be the one.

Social Darwinism.

Mentioned it in the opening.

[John Dibble]

Ok, now how valid are the fundament claims that evolution was the inspiration for the National Socalist German Workers Union Party?

The Nazis were founded on a number of different ideas and principles, and was also a product of the situation that Germany was in post WWI. In regards to evolution, Adolf Hitler did seem to believe in some version of evolutionary theory, but his understanding seems to have been flawed and he also believed it to be directed by God. How important that was in determining his views is a matter of speculation, as his other views may have also colored his understanding of the theory.

The important thing in my view is that evolutionary theory is not a call to action. It's just knowledge we have derived from observing nature. We should not be any more compelled to put evolution inspired programs into effect than we should be compelled to not build spacecraft because gravity pulls us down towards Earth.