Different in degree or kind; language (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, December 27, 2014, 13:03 (3407 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: My question, though, was WHY the distinction is so important to you. Even if humans were different in degree and not kind, you could still say we were the “end point”, since we are so much more conscious/intelligent/ technically advanced than other species. 
So what exactly is the reason for your insistence on the distinction? What is it meant to prove?-DAVID: You total miss the import of Adler's book. You need to read it. It was still in print just a few years ago. "Difference in kind" means that humans did not evolve by any form of Darwinian evolution. Our animal bodies did change very divergently from apes, but that part of us appears as evolved, or helped directly by God to evolve. On the other hand our intellect and consciousness are currently totally unexplained (See Nagel) and represent to me direct help from God.-Thank you for this direct, but slightly confusing answer. If our animal bodies appear to have evolved from apes, it's difficult to see how you can argue that humans did not evolve “by any form of Darwinian evolution”. Presumably you would accept that our brains are part of our animal bodies, and although we don't know the source of consciousness, there would seem to be some sort of tie-up between the two. “Direct help” from God means dabbling, which only a few days ago you told us you had now discounted. -I have full confidence in your ability to explain your own thoughts rather than my having to understand them through Adler. Do you now think your God created humans entirely separately, dabbled with their brains and other distinguishing features, or preprogrammed them 3.7 billion years ago, along with all the other millions of organisms and lifestyles, extinct and extant, that he preprogrammed in those first living cells?