The Darwinian Challenge

NON ESSENTIALISM
ESSENTIALISM IS THE VIEW THAT EVERY ENTITY HAS A SET OF

ATTRIBUTES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO ITS IDENTITY AND FUNCTION. IN
EARLY WESTERN THOUGHT PLATO'S IDEALISM HELD THAT ALL THINGS
HAVE SUCH AN "ESSENCE," AN "IDEA" OR "FORM". LIKEWISE, IN
CATEGORIES ARISTOTLE PROPOSED THAT ALL OBJECTS HAVE A
SUBSTANCE THAT, AS GEORGE LAKOFF PUT IT "... MAKE THE THING WHAT
IT IS, AND WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE NOT THAT KIND OF THING" THE
CONTRARY VIEW, NON-ESSENTIALISM DENIES THE NEED TO POSIT SUCH
AN "ESSENCE'".
THE DARWINIAN CHALLENGE
DARWIN PROPOSED TWO KEY IDEAS. THE FIRST IS THE IDEA THAT
ANIMALS AND PLANTS ARE SOMETIMES BORN WITH FEATURES
THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF THEIR PARENTS BUT THAT
THEY CAN PASS ON TO THEIR OWN OFFSPRING. DARWIN CALLED
THESE DIFFERENCES VARIATIONS.
FOR EXAMPLE,
A GIRAFFE MAY BE BORN WITH A LONGER NECK THAN ITS PARENTS.
THE GIRAFFE CAN THEN PASS ON THIS VARIATION TO ITS OWN
OFFSPRING. VARIATIONS LIKE THESE, DARWIN ARGUED, HAPPEN
RANDOMLY. THAT IS, EACH HAPPENS COMPLETELY BY CHANCE.
THE SECOND KEY IDEA DARWIN ADVANCED IS THAT BECAUSE ANIMALS PRODUCE
MORE OFFSPRING THAN CAN SURVIVE, THEY ARE CONTINUOUSLY CAUGHT IN A
GREAT STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCETHAT IS, THEY MUST CONTINUOUSLY
COMPETE WITH ONE ANOTHER TO STAY ALIVE:
FOR EXAMPLE:
A NEWBORN CAT, FOR EXAMPLE, STARTS LIFE HAVING TO COMPETE WITH ITS
MANY BROTHERS AND SISTERS AS THEY ALL STRUGGLE TO SUCK FROM THEIR
MOTHERS FEW NIPPLES. LATER, THE CAT HAS TO COMPETE WITH OTHER CATS
FOR MATES AND FOOD. THROUGHOUT ITS LIFE, IT STRUGGLES TO KEEP AWAY
FROM WOLVES AND OTHER PREDATORS. ALWAYS IT MUST STRUGGLE AGAINST
HEAT AND COLD, SUN AND SNOW, DROUGHTS AND STORMS. THIS IS A LIFE-OR-
DEATH STRUGGLE FOR EVERY ANIMAL, AND MANY FALL BY THE WAYSIDE AND DIE.
OVER MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS, THE INEXORABLE WEEDING
PROCESS OF NATURAL SELECTION CAN MAKE A SPECIES (A KIND OF
ANIMAL) CHANGE INTO WHOLLY NEW SPECIES. A SPECIES OF FISH OVER
MILLIONS OF YEARS MAY EVOLVE INTO A SPECIES OF FROG-LIKE
AMPHIBIANS, THE AMPHIBIANS MAY EVOLVE INTO DINOSAURS, AND THE
DINOSAURS MAY EVOLVE INTO BIRDS:
THERE IS A THEORY WHICH STATES THAT MANY LIVING ANIMALS CAN BE
OBSERVED OVER THE COURSE OF TIME TO UNDERGO CHANGES SO THAT
NEW SPECIES ARE FORMED. THIS CAN BE CALLED THE SPECIAL THEORY
OF EVOLUTION AND CAN BE DEMONSTRATED IN CERTAIN CASES BY
EXPERIMENTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, THERE IS THE THEORY THAT ALL
THE LIVING FORMS IN THE WORLD HAVE ARISEN FROM A SINGLE SOURCE
WHICH ITSELF CAME FROM AN INORGANIC FORM. THIS THEORY CAN BE
CALLED THE GENERAL THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND THE EVIDENCE
THAT SUPPORTS IT IS NOT SUFFICIENTLY STRONG TO ALLOW US TO
CONSIDER IT AS ANYTHING MORE THAN A WORKING HYPOTHESIS.
YET AS DISTURBING AS DARWINS IDEAS ABOUT ANIMAL SPECIES WERE,
HIS IDEAS WERE EVEN MORE DISTURBING WHEN APPLIED TO HUMAN
BEINGS. FOR HUMANS ARE ANIMALS, AND IF DARWINS THEORY APPLIED
TO ANIMALS, IT ALSO APPLIED TO HUMANS. HUMANS ALSO MUST HAVE
EVOLVED! DARWIN HIMSELF MADE THE POINT IN THE DESCENT OF MAN, A
BOOK THAT AROUSED A FLURRY OF ANGRY CONTROVERSY:
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TRADITIONAL VIEW.
TAKE, FIRST, WHAT THE TRADITIONAL VIEW SAYS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN HUMANS AND ANIMALS. THE TRADITIONAL VIEW SAYS THAT
ALTHOUGH HUMANS ARE ANIMALS, THEY HAVE A CHARACTERISTIC THAT
MAKES THEM UNIQUE. THIS IS THE ABILITY TO REASON.
CONTRADICTION:
DARWIN DENIED THIS. IF HUMANS EVOLVED FROM LOWER ANIMALS, THEN
ALL HUMAN ABILITIES EVOLVED FROM THE ABILITIES THAT THEIR EARLIER
NONHUMAN PREDECESSORS HAD. IF SO, DARWIN BELIEVED, THEN ALL
HUMAN ABILITIES ARE MERELY MORE DEVELOPED VARIATIONS OF THE
SAME KINDS OF ABILITIES THAT NONHUMAN ANIMALS HAVE.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TRADITIONAL VIEW.
SECOND, AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, THE TRADITIONAL VIEW HOLDS THAT LIKE ALL LIVING
THINGS, HUMAN BEINGS ARE OBVIOUSLY DESIGNED AND SO MUST HAVE A PURPOSE. ARISTOTLE
HAD NOTED THAT HUMAN ORGANS, SUCH AS THE EYE, THE HAND, AND THE FOOT, ARE LIKE
INTRICATE INSTRUMENTS OR TOOLS THAT HAVE BEEN PUT TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A SPECIFIC
PURPOSE:
CONTRADICTION
DARWINS THEORY OF EVOLUTION UNDERMINED THE IDEA THAT LIVING THINGS AND THEIR PARTS
ARE DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS ARE THE PRODUCTS NOT OF A
PURPOSEFUL PLAN, DARWIN AND HIS MODERN FOLLOWERS HAVE ARGUED, BUT OF CHANCE
VARIATIONS AND THE BLIND MECHANICAL FORCES OF NATURAL SELECTION. IN DARWINS VIEW,
HUMANS AND THEIR PARTS PROVIDED EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION, NOT OF PURPOSE.
REACTIONS TO DARWIN.
FIRST, AND MOST CONTROVERSIALLY, MANY HAVE ARGUED THAT
DARWINS THEORY STILL LACKS DEFINITIVE PROOF.
AS THE CONTEMPORARY BIOLOGIST STEPHEN JAY GOULD WRITES,
THE HISTORY OF MOST FOSSIL SPECIES INCLUDES TWO FEATURES
INCONSISTENT WITH [DARWINIAN] GRADUALISM: 1. STASIS. MOST SPECIES
EXHIBIT NO DIRECTIONAL CHANGE DURING THEIR TENURE ON EARTH.
THEY APPEAR IN THE FOSSIL RECORD LOOKING MUCH THE SAME AS WHEN
THEY DISAPPEAR. . . . 2. SUDDEN APPEARANCE. IN ANY LOCAL AREA, A
SPECIES DOES NOT ARISE GRADUALLY BY THE STEADY TRANSFORMATION
OF ITS ANCESTORS; IT APPEARS ALL AT ONCE AND FULLY FORMED.17
DOES THIS DEBATE MEAN THAT DARWIN WAS WRONG AND THAT WE
SHOULD REJECT HIS THEORY?
SECOND, EVEN IF DARWINS THEORY IS CORRECT, SOME OPPONENTS HAVE
ARGUED, IT IS A MISTAKE TO THINK THAT EVOLUTION PROVES THAT HUMAN
NATURE IS NOT DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE.
FOR EXAMPLE PHILOSOPHER GEORGE MAVRODES SUGGESTS THAT THERE
ARE TWO WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION
1. A NATURALISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF EVOLUTION HOLDS THAT
EVOLUTION IS EXPLICABLE ENTIRELY IN TERMS OF NATURAL LAW
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO A DIVINE INTENTION OR INTERVENTION.
2. A THEISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF EVOLUTION HOLDS THAT THERE WAS A
DIVINE TELEOLOGY IN THIS PROCESS, A DIVINE DIRECTION AT EACH
CRUCIAL STAGE IN ACCORDANCE WITH DIVINE PLAN OR INTENTION
A THIRD CRITICISM THAT OPPONENTS OF DARWIN MAKE IS AN ATTACK

ON HIS CLAIM THAT THERE IS NO FUNDAMENTAL OR QUALITATIVE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF MANY NONHUMAN
ANIMALS AND THE REASONING ABILITY OF HUMANS.
DARWINS THEORY UNDERMINED THE IDEA THAT LIVING THINGS AND
HUMANS ARE DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE
SO, DOES DARWINS THEORY OF EVOLUTION DISPROVE THE
TRADITIONAL WESTERN VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE? IS EVOLUTION
COMPATIBLE WITH THE IDEA THAT HUMANS WERE DESIGNED FOR A
PURPOSE?

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NON ESSENTIALISM

ESSENTIALISM IS THE VIEW THAT EVERY ENTITY HAS A SET OF

A THIRD CRITICISM THAT OPPONENTS OF DARWIN MAKE IS AN ATTACK

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