tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post2176732125096217730..comments2024-03-15T19:54:18.063+00:00Comments on Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart: Evolution as Secondary Causality: Darwin and AquinasLarry Arnharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-5489741048925804902019-08-15T16:22:40.946+01:002019-08-15T16:22:40.946+01:00Dear Colegeno,
Change does not occur through ran...Dear Colegeno, <br /><br />Change does not occur through random variation alone but, as you state yourself, through natural selection, which is not random. You provide a false impression that it is all random. You ask what law, and how to repeat it? If you are asking about variation, I refer you to the science of genetics which does show a degree of randomness in the transmission and expression of hereditary traits. Do you also disagree with genetics? As for natural selection, it is one of several mechanisms identified as contributing to species evolution, not the only one. Moreover, natural selection is confirmed by repeatable and experimental evidence, as in e.g., antibiotic resistance, the well-known example of peppered moth, etc... Evolutionary theory extends this principle to argue it leads to speciation. If you have a problem with that, this is what you shold focus on, not the basic principles mentioned here, which are empirically established. Finally, Newton was not "refuted by the theory of relativity". Newton's theory works except for the extreme conditions that relativity and quantum physics deal with. It is more accurate to say that Einstein and quantum theory subsumed Newton's. All these theories are indeed attempts to reveal "principles used by God to order then universe" which bring us closer to the truth but require collective effort over the ages and are imperfect, as is any human reading of nature or revelation. Their errors do not thereby invalidate the lasting truths that remain in them just as moral error does not invalidate the whole of the person who commits these or the continuing struggle to reach the truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-21804566202466725412011-07-06T04:19:54.805+01:002011-07-06T04:19:54.805+01:00What law did Darwin discover and what secondary ca...What law did Darwin discover and what secondary causation? (1) Change occurs through <i>random</i> variation. That is not a law, it is certainly not repeatable. (2) Changes persist only if they survive. Again what law? How to repeat it?<br /><br />Apparently news travels slowly. Newton was refuted by the Theory of Relativity. Hence, he could not have revealed any of the principles used by God to order the universe.Cologerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18099963156612190531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-53252278379298650242011-06-23T01:46:00.280+01:002011-06-23T01:46:00.280+01:00When Newton published his physics it was seen as a...When Newton published his physics it was seen as a great religious accomplishment, that he had revealed the principles that God used to order the universe. Darwin should have been greeted the same way, as showing how God gives things a function or telos. Instead he was interpreted as showing that there was no teleology, instead of showing us what teleology in fact is, as he should have been interpreted.JS123https://www.blogger.com/profile/11448253975439749555noreply@blogger.com