Different in degree or kind: a book agrees with Adler (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, February 09, 2016, 17:37 (3210 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: In brief, for all the gulf in scale, I don't see why anyone should believe that our quest for knowledge and our moral and aesthetic sense are not an evolutionary extension of the same characteristics to be found in our animal ancestors.-DAVID: Of course it is an evolutionary extension, just the magnitude is extremely surprising. Animals don't need the aesthetics we have, but it is nice we have them. Adler ascendant! Difference in kind, without question.-Since you agree with me that the quest for knowledge, moral sense, and the appreciation of beauty are an evolutionary extension, you can hardly agree with O'Hear that “evolutionary theory cannot give a satisfactory account of such distinctive facets of human life as the quest for knowledge, moral sense, and the appreciation of beauty”! Yes, the magnitude is surprising, but magnitude is a matter of degree, not kind.