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Explanation in History

Explanation in History. Www.buffalo.edu/~jlawler. jlawler@buffalo.edu http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_spodek_wrldhist_4mylab. Science and Teleology.

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Explanation in History

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  1. Explanation in History

  2. Www.buffalo.edu/~jlawler • jlawler@buffalo.edu • http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_spodek_wrldhist_4mylab

  3. Science and Teleology • “Unlike many existing creation myths, especially biblical myths, evolutionary theory postulated no teleology, no ethical or moral goals and purposes of life.” Spodek, p. 10.

  4. Two kinds of explanation • How? • Mechanical cause • Why? • Purpose (teleology)

  5. Purposeful human behavior • I woke early this morning • Mechanical Cause: alarm clock • Teleological Cause -- I set it purposefully • I was late for class • Mechanical cause -- construction on Grand Island bridge • Purpose?

  6. Higher purpose? • Science: conflicting events > no over-all purpose • Parallelogram of forces; chains of causes • Teleological explanations • God’s (the gods’) external will, purpose • “It’s a sign from Eywa.” (Avatar) • Other: Fate, Karma, “Cunning of Reason,” balance of Yin and Yang …, Synchronicity • “Marriages are made in heaven”

  7. Ancient teleological perspectives • Natural, spontaneous approach: meaningful, purposeful world • Animism of early peoples: • The sun, moon, stars, planets revolve around the earth: for what purpose? • Ptolemaic astronomy/astrology • Ancient science: World is as it appears to us: we are in the center

  8. Copernican revolution in science • Universe, reality does not revolve around me/us/our earth • =Reality itself is not as it appears to be: it is not centered on me, on the earth • Shift needed: decentering ordinary egocentrism by scientific reasoning • >Mechanistic science: Newton’s First Law • Everything moves in a straight line until or unless something else forces it to change direction • “It was just an accident.”

  9. Debunking Darwin • Cartoon p. 9 (Spodek) • Elegant woman = “female descendant of marine ascidian” • Who is she? • A being whose existence is purposeful? • A result of accidental evolutionary causes? • Reductionism of science? • We are only a combination of atoms, molecules, etc.

  10. Behaviorism • B. F. Skinner’s Beyond Freedom and Dignity • Human purpose, free will: an illusion • Why does the chicken cross the road? • Unscientific answer? • Scientific answer: operant conditioning • 1) random behavior due to evolutionary causes • 2) history of positive reinforcement • “Purposes” are effects of, reducible to, mechanical causes

  11. Creation • 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."   • 27 So God created man in His [own] image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  

  12. Book of Genesis • Explain existence of human beings • God’s purposeful creation • Explain why human beings suffer and die • Accidents of life? • Biological causes? • Purposeful behavior of Adam and Eve: they defy God’s command

  13. Darwin’s theory of evolution • Chance variation • >differences in seeds, offspring due to chance, accident (or internal causes unrelated to environmental circumstances) • Natural selection • Changing environment, survival advantages • 1) Some individuals happen to fit/adapt • 2) Others happen to fail to fit/adapt

  14. Why do giraffes have long necks? • 1) Teleological Creationist explanation from Genesis • 2) Early secular teleological theory of Lamarck 1744-1829: inheritance of acquired characteristics • 3) Darwin’s (1809-82) naturalistic evolutionism • Compare to Skinner

  15. God-based theories • “Creationism” • literal interpretation of Genesis 1 • “Intelligent Design” or “Theistic evolution” • Agrees with most phenomena (appearances) of evolution, not with naturalistic explanation • (Father) Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., The Phenomenon of Man: teleological purpose of evolution: “the Omega Point”

  16. Extra-terrestrial “gardening” • “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick • Ape-like hominids and the monolith • Another approach from the Bible: • “There weregiants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4) • Evidence for ET Gardening theory? (See books of Zecharia Sitchin)

  17. Return to Darwin • “The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick.” Charles Darwin • New York Times, Feb. 10, 2009 D4

  18. The problem • Recall Darwin’s main theory: • Chance variation • Natural selection: the external environment, not the purposeful action of individuals, selects those individuals that are fit to survive • But the peacock’s tail seems to be an obstacle to survival • Thinking about this made Darwin sick, because it seems to contradict his theory.

  19. Darwin’s solution • "We may conclude that…those males which are best able by their various charms to please or excite the female, are under ordinary circumstances accepted. If this be admitted, there is not much difficulty in understanding how male birds have gradually acquired their ornamental characters," Darwin wrote.

  20. Teleology in evolution? • Why does the peahen choose her mate? • Because of his beautiful tail feathers • > Its not the external, unconscious environment that selects, but the female peahen, seeking beauty in her mate: • Teleology, purposeful choice, in evolution? • The “environment” = other plants and animals, and eventually human beings (“artificial selection”) • Why does the peahen have a love of the beautiful? Why is nature so beautiful? • Plato will provide one explanation!

  21. Evolution of human species 1 • Apes with upright posture, bipedalism • Due to chance variation some are more upright than others • adapt to plains at edge of forests: the more upright ones can spot anthills, and so they survive a famine • Frees forelimbs for other uses • Large brain • Intelligently Designed (by God) complexity • Selected by ET breeding program (artificial selection) • Failsafe defense against heat stroke through natural selection? (one Darwinian-type of explanation)

  22. Evolution of human species 2 • Bipedalism liberates forelimbs, allowing for other uses • That is not the purpose of bipedalism, but its effect, one of its consequences • Arms/hands adapt to tool use • clean sticks permit the drawing out of ants • Frees jaws for other uses • Mouth, larynx adapt to speech • Permits communication, group cooperation • survival advantage of this v. individualism

  23. Evolution of human species 3 • Two levels of evolution • Biological organism (previous slides) • Evolution of tools outside the body

  24. Evolution of non-biological components of the human being • Evolution of material tools • Simple to complex • Paleolithic > Neolithic • Evolution of mental tools (transmitted through language, songs, writing, etc.) • Culture is elaborated • Evolution of group relations

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