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

by David Turell , Wednesday, February 10, 2016, 14:45 (2990 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: You keep on about survival and you ignore the drive for improvement, which has to be integral to evolution since we have agreed that if survival was the only criterion, NOTHING was necessary beyond bacteria.-Correct. But where did that drive come from? Simply stating it exists does not explain it. A point for design.-> dhw: You have also ignored O'Hear's references to the quest for knowledge and moral sense - both of which are clear extensions of the animal need for knowledge of the environment, and the need for individual social organisms to fit in with the requirements of the group.-I deal with animals all the time, and you are vastly overstating and romanticizing animal need for knowledge. I have seen domesticated cats and pigs turn feral easily based on their built-in instincts rather automatically. Almost no animals have a moral sense, although it is noted here and there, but never at the human level.-> dhw: Even with aesthetics, I have offered a pretty obvious evolutionary link: there has to be some inbuilt aesthetic sense for individual males and females to choose their mates.-Come on, mainly pure sexual lust, all built-in just as we have it.-> dhw: The fact that we have developed these attributes on such a massive scale is indisputable, and yes indeed we are special. We are animals with special gifts. So are dogs and camels and whales...According to you, God gave them their special gifts too, so we are all special.-Yes we are all special, but your word 'special' does not imply the degrees of 'specialness' we see in humans. Your word 'special' does not recognize the gap as you glibly glide past the gap.-> dhw: And if God doesn't exist, we are still all special. Either way, you and I believe evolution is the process that has taken organisms far beyond what was necessary for life and survival. Improvement is therefore the driving force that offers a satisfactory evolutionary explanation for ALL the special qualities, including our own.-Yes, something drives evolution past where it should have gone. I have an answer, you won't accept any as to why improvement through evolution occurs.