Different in degree or kind: animal minds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 15:11 (3026 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: Maybe - if he exists - God did dabble to give us our special brain. But I am proposing that no dabbling or preprogramming was necessary for every single form of life and lifestyle if we recognize that cell communities have their own (possibly God-given) inventive intelligence.-You can't have it both ways. Since you accept the possibility that God might have given cell communities inventive intelligence, that must mean He gave them instructions on how to plan for improvements. That is really quite close to my thinking. We've discussed on-board inventive mechanisms before. We've agreed that such could exist. I've admitted I don't know how natures wonders came about, but they offer several different interpretations of God's role in them, and no one will ever know exactly what is correct.-
> dhw: It appears that you would rather jettison logic than acknowledge the mere possibility that cell communities (organisms) have the intelligence (possibly God-given) to conduct their own affairs.-Not so, as you see above, but not interpreted the way you do, which is an attempt to recognize the possibility of God, but diminish his role, which fits your discomfort about accepting an all powerful Being.