This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 21 Apr 2012, by Todd Suomela.
-
21 Apr 12
Todd Suomela"It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Darwin’s account of speciation is the most revolutionary idea in the last two hundred years. In claiming this, I am not original, for this is also the thesis of Dennett in Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. I will never have words fine enough to capture the greatness of Darwin, but nonetheless it is important to at least attempt the articulation of what is so revolutionary in his thought."
evolution ideas object-oriented-ontology objects intellectual history
-
1) Nature is not supposed to be something. The great and most fundamental Darwinian ontological thesis is that nature is without teleology. In this declaration Darwin continues a long tradition characterized by thinkers such as Democritus, Leucippus, Epicurus, Lucretius, and Spinoza. All of these thinkers, each in their own way, declare that nature is without purpose.
-
2) Difference is creative, not deviant. In the old Platonic-Aristotlean-Thomist model of nature, difference was seen as a deviation from form or essence. Organisms were measured or evaluated in terms of how closely they approximated an ideal form of what organisms are supposed to be.
-
3) Nature is creative. In the old theological universe, Nature was sterile. Creation was reserved for, on the one hand, God that created all the essences or forms in one fell swoop, and humans, on the other hand, that created in the form of the fine and technical arts. However, this conception of Nature as sterile is not restricted to the theologically minded.
-
4) Design without a designer. At the center of Darwinian thought is the daring hypothesis of design without a designer. Paraphrasing Cantor, we can say that nothing can dislodge us Darwinians from the conceptual paradise of design without a designer.
-
5) Humans are animals. Darwin’s most controversial and (for some) disturbing thesis is, of course, that humans are animals. In the old theological model of Nature humans were conceived as sovereigns (or in kinder versions “stewards”) of Nature.
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.