Evolutionism's portability

Just a quick shot today: when reading Wikipedia on History
of evolutionary thought
one might get the impression that
evolutionist thinking pre-dated detailed “implementing” concepts of
evolution mechanisms. One might even suspect that evolutionist thinking
is implemented by means of various such concrete explanations of
evolution mechanisms, just as according to time and circumstances.

According to the above cited article, modern evolutionist thinking
started in the 18th century, i.e. it is a product of the Enlightenment.
The first explanations given for the underlying mechanism are
overthrown today (namely, Lamarckism) but
evolution lives on. One might say, it is true and the true mechanisms
have been found out … or it just acquired new, yet unquestioned
explanations.

I’m not going here to deal with the concrete contemporary
explanations for evolution. But I want to question whether it might be
that philosophical determinedness led us to generate such explanations, rather
than that pure interest led us to find
them. I fear that evolution is a philosophical
concept of the Enlightenment that might one day turn out to be as
primitive and absurd as other philosophical thoughts of these ages. For
example anthroposophy, homoeopathics, mormonism and the fourfold
division of human temperaments. I fear that evolutionism has
contemporary followers and contemporary verbalizations and apologetics
which all don’t change the primitive basis.

I’d like to see some studies that indicate to what degree human
societies are able to find out and acknowledge truth (at least truth
that can be found out) – and to what degree bias, deception and
delusion are stronger. I suspect devastating results, and that the
mechanisms of deception and delusion can be both the misuse of
authority (as found in religion) and revolutionary thinking (as found
in Enlightenment-style naturalism).


Start date: 2007-11-09
Post date: 2007-11-11
Version date: 2007-11-11 (for last meaningful change)


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