We Don't Believe in It Anymore
It's an Illusion, It's an Illusion . . .
No-one really believes the theory of evolution. Well, maybe a few isolated extreme sociopaths do. But for the rest of mankind, evolution is profoundly disbelieved.
Yet, it has a very useful function, nonetheless. Its utility is akin to Locke's concept of the Social Contract. Locke was trying to justify the existence of limited and proscribed civil government. The original state of mankind—the state of nature—he argued, was one of no laws, no governments, no restrictions upon anyone's rights. However, this proved to be unworkable, so mankind entered a Social Contract, whereby man voluntarily surrendered some rights in order to establish protections of property and life.
The Social Contract was a formal warranting concept—a philosophical notion—that gave legitimacy to civil government and its laws. No-one really believed, including Locke, that there was an actual time in the history of mankind where a universal human convocation was held and men decided to cede some of their rights to a civil government.
Evolutionism functions in our society in exactly the same way. No-one really believes it, but it is a useful fiction, because it places man at the top of the tree of being (which is rather nice) and it removes the idea of sin and judgment in the hands of an angry God (which is even nicer). It also justifies just about every libertinistic moral impulse or action imaginable (which is nicer still).
But no-one really believes it. Even the academic and scientific propagators and defenders of evolutionism are just going through the motions. They don't really believe it either—except as a formal warranting philosophical concept.
We know that no-one really believes the theory, because no-one is prepared to stand up and advocate, much less live out, evolutionism as an ethic. No-one is prepared to be evolutionistic. At first glance this may seem rather strange. If someone were to say that they believed in Islam, one would expect that they would endeavour to live out their lives as an Islamic—in a manner consistent with the teachings of Islam. If they failed to do so, or disregarded the teachings of the Koran and Islamic traditions, we would quickly conclude that they were hypocritical, or they were really infidels (to use an Islamic category).
But for some reason, similar assessments are not made over evolutionism, its belief, and its practice. All of which leads to the conclusion that evolutionism is a myth of convenience.
How should an evolutionist be expected to live? We would expect him to hold up and seek to live out the ethic that lies at the heart of evolutionism—that the survival of the fittest is not only the greatest engine of progress, but that only by the outworking of this ethic, will life and existence be maintained. This would be a consistent and entirely reasonable position for an evolutionist. Now, of course, evolutionism is meaningless because the “survival of the fittest” is a tautology—something that is true by definition. But let's not get side tracked on technicalities.
Evolutionists at the very least should be expected to ensure the survival of the species by destroying all threats, including threats from other creatures. Evolutionists should also, not only advocate, but be actively involved in the killing off of the weak to ensure that the strong are made stronger. If food is short, solve the problem by exterminating the overly-numerous mouths—that is what evolutionists should be advocating. The elderly should be terminated, or exposed so that they die off. This very act makes the living stronger. They are no longer distracted and dissipated by worthless concerns. For the true evolutionist, these things would be amoral—except that the process of terminating the weak both ensures the survival of the species, and ensures the progress of being from lower to higher life forms.
We are aware, of course, that some fundamentalist evolutionists have danced a merry jig trying to avoid these implications, which for some reason they find unpalatable. They have suggested that the evolution of mankind has reached such an advanced stage and man is such a higher life form that he has been able to turn away from the raw brute fight to survive by killing and destroying others. Man is so advanced on the chain of being that he has evolved into co-operative activity. Yes, the jig for these die-hard fundamentalist evolutionists is very lively and frenetically danced. Mankind is so advanced that he has been able to banish evolution. The doctrine that the survival of the fittest is necessary to enable a species, well, to survive has been retired.
But these fundamentalists surely could not object in principle if other human beings disagreed and were successful in terminating them. Such road kill would help ensure the survival of the species.
No-one really thinks and acts like this—which is to say that no-one really believes in the theory of evolutionism. The most die-hard fundamentalist evolutionists spend most of their time arguing that the process has actually stopped now—which is deeply and richly ironic. They can be dismissed as fatuous idiots. But what of the rest of the population?
Just as Locke and all the Contract theorists did not actually believe in the historicity of the Social Contract, so the vast majority of people today could not care at all whether evolutionism is actually literally true or not, or whether it actually occurred. Its value lies in what the theory justifies or warrants.
That makes evolutionism a pearl of great price for the Unbeliever. He will sell all that he owns to possess it, even, especially, and literally, his own soul.
4 comments:
Congratulations, I think this might be the single stupidist thing I've read about Evolution. Let's see how much ignorance you've crammed into your few hundred words shall we.
But for the rest of mankind, evolution is profoundly disbelieved.
Nope, of New Zealanders are on the side of reason and even in the very protestant USA it's nearly half.
[Evolutionism functions as a warranting concept akin to the social contract]
I'm tempted to quote Steve Jones "Evolution is to the social sciences as statues are to birds: a convenient platform upon which to deposit badly digested ideas." The modern evolutionary synthesis is a scientific theory - the framework by which all biology makes sense.
it places man at the top of the tree of being
Nope, the great chain of being is a pre-evolutionary idea. It survived into early evolutionary thinking but modern evolutionary biology has no place for it - after all every species has been evolving for as long as every other.
it removes the idea of sin and judgment in the hands of an angry God
Except most people that support evolution are theists...
But no-one really believes it. Even the academic and scientific propagators and defenders of evolutionism are just going through the motions
Repeating something doesn’t make it true. Evidence?
We know that no-one really believes the theory, because no-one is prepared to stand up and advocate, much less live out, evolutionism as an ethic. No-one is prepared to be evolutionistic
Because evolution is a scientific theory. Not a warranting concept. I'm developing a sinking suspicion that this whole essay can be put to rest by paraphrasing Hume "is doesn't mean ought". Evolution is a scientific fact and the modern synthesis the theoretical frame work we use to understand it. The very fact we could choose to live an evolutionary life means we shouldn't to it.
"survival of the fittest" is a tautology - something that is true by definition. But let's not get side tracked on technicalities.
Oh but lets, since you've again shown how little you understand about the theory you would dam. The phrase "survival of the fittest" doesn't adequately describe evolution by natural selection. Evolution only works on heritable traits - the similar (less snappy) phrase might be something "The fittest survive and reproduce, and therefore pass on those heritable traits that have allowed them to survive and reproduce" Which isn't true by definition.
Evolutionists at the very least should be expected to ensure the survival of the species
The phrase "The survival of the species" has no place in evolutionary biology.
Hi, David
Appreciate your sarcasm. It brightened up what might have been an otherwise dull day.
Some ripostes:
1. "Evolution is profoundly disbelieved": you appear to have missed the point of the argument. However, thankfully truth is not a question of opinion polls or numbers who believe or disbelieve. The vast majority of scientists, illuminati, nobility, and peasantry in late medieval Spain believed the world to be flat. That did not make it so.
2. If evolutionism is to be taken seriously as a scientific theory, perhaps you would do us the service of specifying under what terms, conditions, experimental results, and evidence it would be falsified. We, for our part, suspect that it is impossible to falsify evolutionism. But maybe you could put us straight.
3. "All other species have been evolving together". That's cosy for all of us species--except presumably those which have become extinct. Not such a collegial outcome for them. Further, most greenists argue that man is the most rapacious, destructive, and deadly creature on the planet with respect to other species. Within the frame of evolutionism, would not this qualify him to be the highest on the chain of being? Apparently he is the best at surviving, and therefore, "fitter" than all other species on the planet.
Further, we think it is a reasonable proposition that within evolutionist terms, those creatures which each other species for dinner, would be regarded as being "higher" species than those they eat, would they not? At least those they eat did not survive, so were less fit. Those that were eaten apparently lacked certain key heritable traits that were crucial to survival as they were hunted down and killed.
Within evolutionism's world-view, we believe that masticating on a mutton chop entitles us to conclude that man is a higher creature because he has overcome any threats to his survival that have been posed by sheep, but, regrettably the poor sheep has not been able to develop heritable traits that have enabled him to survive man.
And to think that we breed sheep for the purpose of killing them to eat. Not only have they been unable to survive the threats posed to them by man, but are denigrated to the point of being enslaved by man to do his bidding, his will, and to feed his belly and to clothe his back. Sounds a lower order animal to us.
4. You may want to be cautious citing Hume. His scepticism might prove too much for you. You surely cannot move from the "is" to the "ought" if you are a materialistic empiricist. You cannot even prove cause and effect, as Hume himself so courageously admitted. There's a bit of a challenge for the good old materialist empiricist scientists. Moreover, evolutionism is not entitled to employ language that indicates a moral imperative or obligation (e.g. "ought", "should") Evolutionism as a theory of being and existence only recognises the "is"; "ought" is a meaningless concept within its frame.
5. "The very fact that we could choose to live an evolutionary life means we shouldn't do it" See, we told you so. You don't really believe evolutionism either. "Should" has no meaning in an evolutionist cosmogony. You are engaged in precisely the kind of equivocation and double dealing that our original post was pointing out.
6. Adding more words to the phrase "survival of the fittest" does not avoid the tautology. It only obfuscates and obscures it. But maybe camouflage is your real intent.
Finally, we wonder whether its a bit elitist of you to allege that bird excreta is badly digested. After all, the bird has been evolving as long as you. Who are you to hold such low opinion of your fellow evolutionary creature?
Have a good one.
Ok, please read this slowly. Evolutionary biology is a Scientific Theory. Scientific theories are frameworks that let us understand how the natural world works. They are not guides for how would should live. Of course you are right in your trivial point that "ought" has no meaning in the "evolutionist" frame. That's the point. There is no Copernican ethics, nor a quantum or a special relativistic one because these simply aren't tools for running a society. Instead we acknowledge the uncontroversial fact that evolution has happened and look to other spheres (religion for most evolutionists, secular ethics for others) for our moral guidance. But let's look at a few of your specific points...
if evolutionism is to be taken seriously as a scientific theory, perhaps you would do us the service of specifying under what terms, conditions, experimental results, and evidence it would be falsified.
Sure. If we take confirmation of novel predictions as the sine qua non of a scientific theory then Evolution by Natural Selection has passed one of the greatest tests in the history of science. Darwin's theory, published before we knew about genes let alone DNA, argued that life arose by splitting of lineages (the 'tree of life') and so should fit into a nested hierarchy. Morphological evidence was available to Darwin's generation and supported this prediction. But more than 100 years later we had a completely new set of information that we could use to test this prediction - DNA. A generation of scientists (lead by a Kiwi in Alan Wilson) went out and tested the predictions of evolution and confirmed them. If DNA had revealed a completely different hierarchy then evolution would have been falsified. Similarly biogeography and the fossil record provide potential falsifications (if they revealed different stories that the morphological and molecular evidence).
As far as mechanisms the modern evolutionary synthesis argues adaptation happens thanks to the accumulation of beneficial mutations. If you put generation of E. coli through a new environment and couldn't find beneficial mutations you start to pretty suspicious. There are experiments than can show adaptive mutations are random too. (BTW it’s very hard to think of a single observation that would falsify any theory within science cf this thesis.
. "All other species have been evolving together". That's cosy for all of us species--except presumably those which have become extinct. Not such a collegial outcome for them
Not really want I meant. It's that in evolutionary terms every organism on earth is the current culmination of a series of 4 billions years of ancestor-descendant relationships borne from contingency, selection and good old stochastity. Clearly all those ancestor reproduced, and since that’s the only criterion that one could use to argue a species is 'higher' than another it’s hard to see the great chain as meaning anything. Most people would place mammals 'above' insects but ants produce societies many million times bigger than themselves, farm fungus, forge complex relationships other insects, wage war on other colonies and construct their environment to suit their needs. Whereas anteaters have quite long noses. Even an ant being eaten by an anteater might be doing better for itself evolutionarily - ants or more closely related to their sisters than their offspring so can benefit from laying down their life for the queen. (BTW that's another novel prediction of modern evolutionary biology...)
Adding more words to the phrase "survival of the fittest" does not avoid the tautology
Define tautology. "Survival of the fittest" doesn't describe all of NS, just one bit. The bit that makes it interesting is something of things that make an organism fit are heritible and thus those traits that are both heritiable and fit will propergate. There is no tautology there
Hi, David. We have read your latest post very, very slowly. Unfortunately, it does not improve the slower you get.
Nevertheless we will attempt one last herculean effort to work through the issues with you.
Our debate is over evolutionism. Our contention has been that no-one really believes it. Your contention is that evolutionism both true and is a fact and that you for one most certainly do believe it to be true.
Evolutionism is a cosmogony that can be defined (to use your terminology) as 4 billion years of contingency, randomness and irregularity during which ancestor-descendant developed to the point the natural world is now.
As a cosmogony, evolutionism seeks to explain all that has come into existence. It seeks to explain how the natural world works. (The natural world, of course, is not restricted just to sentient life. Within the frame of evolutionism, it includes all that is.) It offers a causal explanation for being itself--all matter and life. Therefore evolutionism explains what the world is, how the natural order or the universe came to be the way that it is, where we humans came from and how we came to be the way that we are, what we are like, and how the natural order works. That is what a cosmogony does. That is clearly the truth claim of evolutionism.
So far so good. We move on. Either evolutionism as a cosmogony is true or not. If true, then it correctly and truthfully explains all there is. It explains all there is about you, since you are part of the totality of the natural order, all of which has been produced by evolutionism.
Scientific theories may fail to act as guides for how we should live, but cosmogonies do. They also determine the truth of all scientific theories. If a scientific theory is not congruent with the cosmogony, assuming the cosmogony is true, the theory has to be wrong.
Now, if evolutionism is true your statement, "it is not a guide for how we should live" has no meaning whatsoever. There is no "should" in evolutionism, and evolutionism, as a cosmogony accounts for all there is. This is to say there is no "should" in being and the natural world. To pretend that there are such things as "morals" "ethics" or to believe that there is a right way that "society should be run" has absolutely no meaning within the cosmogony of evolutionism. Such language and such concepts are inconsistent with the way the natural order actually is. They are falsehoods or myths or fairy tales. You, as the representative and exponent of evolutionism, cannot be allowed to use such language without recognising that you are implicitly denying the very cosmogony you are trying to espouse.
Now we realise that this may be a bit painful, but thems the facts.
Nor is it reasonable to imply that evolutionism partially accounts for everything there is, such that we must look elsewhere for things like ethics.
If such language does have meaning, if words like "ethics", "morals", "ought", "right" "wrong", "fair", "just" do have meaning, it proves philosophically and rationally that evolutionism as a cosmogony cannot be true. So which is it to be? You cannot have it both ways, unless of course fundamental contradictions are of no concern to you. That might possibly be the case. In a random world anything is possible, except meaning, in the final analysis. But, then again, if you really believed that, why would you waste your time and ours attempting to argue a point of view. So, you both want to assert that the world is the product of 4 billion years of randomness, and you want to argue for it at the same time. If your assertion were true, your argument would be a nullity. Universal randomness cannot be argued for.
We can go further. You state that we need to look elsewhere than the natural order to find guides as to how we ought to live. Upon the sea of randomness posited by evolutionism--that sea of randomness which you claim explains how the "natural world works"--there can be no guide to anything. "Guides" and "randomness" are mutually contradictory.
Moreover, you make mention of looking to other "spheres" such as religion or secular ethics to supply what evolutionism "lacks". There can be no other spheres. Evolutionism as a cosmogony either explains all there is, or in the end it explains nothing.
These other spheres, whatever they may be, must also be products of the billions of years of the randomness of evolution. These other spheres can no more tell us right, wrong, ethics--whatever--for they too are part of the natural order, and are subject to the same randomness. That's what a cosmogony is, after all.
As someone once said, if evolutionism were true it could never be described. If it has been described, it cannot possibly be true. Since you have made a good fist of describing it, and arguing for it, by your very doing so, you have proven that it cannot be true. Which is to say that you, if you really sat down and thought about it critically, don't believe it either.
And that is the whole point.
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