From: Integral World [newsletter@integralworld.net] Sent: zondag 13 juli 2008 23:15 To: f.visser3@chello.nl Subject: [personal] Explaining Evolution INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST =========================== http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 247 Amsterdam, July 13th, 2008 WILBER WATCH BLOG: "Integral Politics, Integral Political Party, Integral Political Science" http://wilberwatch.blogspot.com/ Since so much debate on Wilber recently has centered around the theory of evolution -- and the (un)reliability of his reporting on this particular field of science -- I have decided to publish on Integral World some seminal writings on evolution. This is a text on Evolutionary Philosophy by David Lane's partner Andrea, which will be published in 4 installments. Obviously, to properly understand evolution, we need more information, not less. We need more reflection, not less. Enjoy! DARWIN'S DNA: PART 1: EXPLAINING EVOLUTION - Andrea Diem-Lane Evolution by natural selection is, as Daniel Dennett rightly pointed out in his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea, based on the notion of methodological naturalism, whereby one attempts to explain all phenomena by its constituent parts. Paul and Patricia Churchland have called this approach intertheoretic reductionism. Take any physical object and you have two fundamental options in trying to explain it. Either it is material or it is not. If the former you try to ground your explanations in physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and sociology—with an eye and ear to the ground from which these emergent structures arise. If the latter, you are engaged in a metaphysical enterprise, where things are explained not by other material substances but transcendent, even spiritual, realities... This is why evolution is such a powerful idea. It explains so much so simply. Dennett has called it the single greatest idea in the history of human thought, since it serves as the backbone for almost every one of the sciences—from astronomy to neuroscience. As Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the architects of the neo-synthesis of evolutionary theory in the mid-20th century points out, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/diem-lane1.html If you know other people interested in this Integral World Newsletter, please forward this mail to them. Thanks. To SUBSCRIBE to this Integral World Newsletter or change your email address, click here: http://www.integralworld.net/pommo/user/subscribe.php To UPDATE your email address or UNSUBSCRIBE, click here: http://www.integralworld.net/pommo/user/login.php