Teleology and Thomas Nagel (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, April 22, 2016, 15:15 (2897 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw; If there is no intention, we are left only with function and can forget teleology and forget god and panpsychism. It's therefore all chance until we get to the arrival of awareness (not to be confused with human or divine self-consciousness), after which we can have intentionality and purpose (such as to survive and improve). So it all comes down to when and how awareness first arose. And nobody knows.-DAVID: There are at least two types of 'awareness' in the simple and complex limits of types of awareness: the simple awareness of a level of chemical presence, which can trigger a chemical response to it; and an awareness that requires a planned response. Bacteria had the first type from the beginning of life. the complex types appeared later reaching its pinnacle in human planning and awareness.-I totally accept that there are different levels of awareness and intelligence, but the discussion here centres on teleology, which for me depends on intentionality, and that in turn depends on when and how awareness arose, of whatever kind and degree. According to you, it preceded life on Earth, in the form of your God (top down). Some theorists claim that awareness came into existence with the beginning of organic life (bottom up). Panpsychism argues that some form of awareness is present in all matter (theistic top down, non-theistic bottom up). Whichever of these is true will determine the beginning and the nature of intentionality.


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