It did not take long and it is not hard to see why: Ernst Mayr concluded that there were six major philosophical implications of Darwin’s theories: (1) the replacement of a static by an evolving world; (2) the demonstration of the implausibility of creationism; (3) the refutation of cosmic teleology (the idea that there was a purpose in the universe); (4) the abolition of any justification for absolute anthropocentrism (that the purpose of the world is the production of man); (5) the explanation of ‘design’ in the world by purely materialistic processes; (6) the replacement of essentialism by
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