Re: [asa] Re: Cosmological vs. Biological Design

Briefly Linnaeus did not help as his highly successful binomial system of nomenclature encouraged the belief in the fixity of species, which was not there before

Michael
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Campbell
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:47 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Re: Cosmological vs. Biological Design

  Any historians out there have an idea as to the extent to which Plato's concept of physical objects as approximations of a fixed ideal might have influenced the antievolutionary concept of fixed kinds of organisms? If one assumes static ideals, then evolutionary change suggests that an organism is less than ideal and needs to fix something, which raises questions about why it wasn't made right to start with. However, recognition that the environment is not static helps show that a static ideal is not what organisms need to survive over the long term (among other problems with the idea). Conversely, the fact that static ideals don't work well for physical aspects of organisms says nothing about whether or not there might be fixed ideals in other areas, e.g. morality.

  --
  Dr. David Campbell
  425 Scientific Collections
  University of Alabama
  "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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Received on Tue Oct 10 12:21:29 2006