Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 21:57:17 +0300 From: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> To: "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, chat@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <20020909185717.GG28799@hades.hell.gr> In-Reply-To: <20020909091647.J9219-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan> References: <3D7A3908.41093D70@mindspring.com> <20020909091647.J9219-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan>
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On 2002-09-09 09:24, "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com> wrote: > So explain to me again what "selection" is in the context of a > non-theistic worldview. *Who* does the "selection"? If nobody > does the selection, why keep calling it selection? Substitute "survival" for "selection" and you have an answer. The total sum of the components of a jungle is more than a "jungle". It is a "system". The entire system, which is the result of summing its parts, is the one that observes the results of the possibility experiments that sheer luck has attempted. The survivors are those who "have been selected". This is because nobody "makes" the choise. It happens. Then, as the results become apparent, we can talk about a "choise". The word "selection" doesn't mean that some mythical, all-seeing entity, picks pawns on a huge chessboard and throws out those it doesn't like for some reason. > Why is the reification of nature justified in order to save > evolutionary theory? "Selection" implies intentionality, something > which according to evolutionists is not necessary to explain the > highly complex forms of life that have "arisen". If we use Occam's > razor to shave off all the philosophical and religious baggage from > evolution, what is left except an assertion that life spontaneously > arose "by chance"? There you go... - Giorgos To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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