Theistic evolution vs. Darwinism (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, June 08, 2013, 15:02 (4187 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: I'm goading you with your apparent desire to start with "the available science", but I think you have once more missed the point of my panpsychist hypothesis, which SUPPORTS design ... but not your version. Instead of a single inexplicable eternal intelligence designing everything from scratch according to a master plan, I'm proposing inexplicable evolving intelligences designing everything as they go along. ......So if you want an improbable scenario that fits in with the "available science" AND with design, this is it! -DAVID: In an attempt to understand your metaphysical theory of panpsychism, a seemingly emergent self-directing mental state in all living matter, but not clearly connected or disconnected, I've resorted to the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy:-http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/-Your eyes will glaze over. Mine have, and I still see no basis for your theories.-I couldn't get through it, and I'm profoundly sorry that you have wasted your time trying to wade through such a philosophical swamp. I've frequently pointed out that I'm offering my own personal take on panpsychism, of which there are as many varieties as there are gods in the pantheon. The basis of my particular hypothesis is the same as yours: namely, that energy is capable of intelligence (though this remains indefinable, as it must take many forms). We have no idea how, which is what makes both our hypotheses equally unbelievable. The great difference, however, is that your intelligent energy is a single, sourceless, controlling, planning entity which has deliberately created the universe and us from the outside, whereas my intelligent energy emerged in a few individual forms which cooperated to create more and more forms (= evolution by individual design), in the same way as humans have cooperated to create ever more complex units. The connections are not clear except where cooperation is obvious. You may feel at one with magpies, marmosets, marigolds and the moon (my hypothesis is not restricted to organic matter, but nor is energy), or you may feel they are all separate. There is no single overriding purpose; evolution simply moves onward in whatever directions it is led by individual intelligences. You see your mysteriously intelligent God deliberately moving the pieces into place. I am suggesting that my mysteriously intelligent pieces deliberately moved themselves into place. The third hypothesis is that chance moved them into place. I say that there is no basis for any of these hypotheses. And yet one of them must be close to the truth. You are willing to choose, and I am not.