Introducing James Barham; Parts 3 & 4 (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, August 18, 2015, 21:04 (3384 days ago) @ David Turell

These two essays cover amazing phenotypical adaptations and brain plasticity adaptation:-http://jamesabarham.com/my-blog/36-seeing-past-darwin-iii-mary-jane-west-eberhard-West-Eberhard's ideas are crucial for one main reason: The Darwinian project is intended, more than anything else, to demonstrate that teleology, or purpose, can be eliminated from our theoretical understanding of the living world.-archerWest-Eberhard's work helps to upend that project by showing how purposiveness (or goal-directedness) lies at the heart of any realistic explanatory framework in evolutionary biology. In other words, her contribution consists in demonstrating that, far from eliminating purpose from nature, evolution in fact presupposes it.-In a nutshell, West-Eberhard's thesis is contained in the title of her magnum opus, Developmental Plasticity and Evolution.-***-In cases like Slijper's goat and Faith the Dog, we can see the power of these phenomena in action. But they are equally active in less extreme cases, as well. In fact, whenever any change whatsoever is introduced at the genetic level, some goal-directed compensation must take place in order for a viable adult form to be attained.-In a phrase: Responsive phenotype structure is the primary source of novel phenotypes. -This means that the process of natural selection presupposes the phenomena of developmental plasticity and phenotypic accommodation. Therefore, far from being cast out of biology, teleology turns up at its very heart. In this way, evolution is vindicated, but Darwinism is turned on its head.-To avoid teleology, Darwinism must posit random genetic changes that result in random phenotypic changes. But West-Eberhard's work shows us there is no such thing as a random phenotypic change. Instead, we can now see that all phenotypic change is goal-directed.-Thus, the evolutionary process has depended upon the inherent, teleological capability of all living things to adapt themselves to circumstances, within and without. It is this capability that explains evolution, not the other way around.-Essay 4: more experiments that show adaptability:-http://jamesabarham.com/my-blog/37-seeing-past-darwin-iv-some-experiments-What is the bearing of these experiments on the controversy surrounding evolution?-The point is simply this: Organisms of all sorts are capable of intelligent, goal-directed, adaptive behavior that cannot possibly be accounted for on the basis of the theory of natural selection.-Never in the evolutionary history of human beings was there selection for "seeing" with the tongue.-Never in the evolutionary history of fruit flies was there selection for adaptation to an inverted visual field.-Never in the evolutionary history of ferrets was there selection for the brain reorganization necessary to see with the auditory cortex.-And never in the evolutionary history of the slime mold was there selection for solving mazes.-***-The main task of Darwinian theory is to "reduce" teleology and normativity to mechanism.-Therefore, as soon as the Darwinist admits the reality of a general capacity for adaptivity extending throughout all of the living world, he has already given away the whole ballgame.-Of course, the Darwinist will say that there is no need to posit past selection for plasticity. Instead, we will be invited to view plasticity as a "spandrel"---an accidental side effect of other abilities that were selected for.-But that would be entirely ad hoc. There is absolutely no evidence to support such a claim.-Moreover, it would be absurd, in terms of the relative significance of cause and effect.-My comment: Obviously organisms have built-in adaptation guides; source?