Evolution and Philosophy: Things I Learned From Richard J. Blackwell
An email correspondence about the influence of evolutionary theory on philosophy got me to thinking about my graduate school mentor, Richard J. Blackwell. I was a student in a number of his graduate seminars in the 1980s, all of which had a profound and continuing influence on my thinking.
In “Concepts of Time” I first pondered that enigmatic continuum which we all experience but cannot define. I remember my particular fascination with J. M. E. McTaggert’s famous article “The Unreality of Time.” Moreover some contemporary physicists have argued for the unreality of time. The only thing I knew about time when I left this seminar was that it was mysterious.
In “Evolutionary Ethics” and “Evolutionary Epistemology” I came to believe that knowledge and morality weren’t static; rather both evolve as conscious beings move through a time. In “The Seventeenth Century Scientific Revolution” I was introduced to a dramatic historical example of intellectual evolution.
A synthesis of some of these ideas occurred when I took “Aristotle’s Metaphysics.” I wondered if Aristotle’s view of teleology—that reality strives unconsciously toward ends—could be reconciled with modern evolutionary theory. Such a reconciliation depended on teleology being weak enough to allow for human freedom but strong enough to attract reality toward fulfillment.
Next Professor Blackwell introduced me to the concept of evolution in Jean Piaget. What I found there was a theory of evolution that was quasi-teleological. Piaget’s concept of equilibrium was the biological analogue of the quasi-teleology that I was looking for. Thus I found myself able to believe in a free, non-deterministic orthogenesis without resorting to Aristotle’s idea of final causation.
Furthermore the evidence for an orthogenesis was derived from an a posteriori analysis of evolution—order did emerge from chaos. A concrete example of orthogenesis can be found right in front of us, by simply observing how the potential for language and thought are actualized in the maturing child. Teleology/equilibrium is strong enough to steer the development of the child’s language and cognitive faculties, but weak enough to allow for creative freedom.
In essence, what I learned from Professor Blackwell was that reality is unfolding in a progressive direction, and that human life has meaning amidst the process of change.
Since that time I have somewhat hedge my bets. Perhaps life’s traumas have dampened my youthful optimism. In “Cosmic Evolution and the Meaning of Life” I concluded that the best we can do is to hope that life if meaningful given deep time and cosmic evolution, but that the evidence doesn’t demand that life actually is meaningful. For the moment I’ll stick with the hope in life’s meaning, as the only intellectually honest response to the conflicting messages we get from whatever reality or apparent reality in which we are enmeshed.
But the only way to ensure a meaningful reality is by continuing the project of transhumanism. Only when we change ourselves for the better will we be able to change reality for the better.
