KARL JASPERS FORUM

TA110 (Mind and Metaphysics)

Commentary 26 (to Roberts, C23)

( EVOLUTION AND PROPAGATION )

by Richard W Moodey

25 February 2009, posted 7 March 2009

[P ROBERTS]

Do Bill Adams and Richard Moodey really believe, as they say, "... that it does not make sense to talk about the purpose of the body in the context of evolutionary theory"?

The primary purpose of all animal or plant bodies, according to that theory, is to survive long enough to propagate. Propagate what ? Propagate that particular body's share of the gene pool, the DNA molecules that made it and make other bodies in order to help a variety of germ lines persist in the flux of time.

[RW MOODEY]

I can't speak for Adams, of course, but I reserve "purpose" for consequences that are intended by some knowing subject. For me, to speak of the purpose of the body implies a creationist perspective. I interpret most evolutionary theorists as claiming that the variation-selection model rejects the final causality implied by saying that bodies have purposes.

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Richard W Moodey
e-mail < MOODEY001 (at) gannon.edu >