Philosophy Now Forum

chaz i am sorry but you are making no sense

who is it exactly that has an interest in evolutionary survival of the sheep species

species is an abstract concept so sheep in general have no interest in anything at all



as an aside

you probably know that in my heck of the woods there are people who seriously want to teach creationism in biology classes

they are daft - thats a british word for nuts right - daft?

unfortunately the pro evolution crowd is for most part so ignorant of science and philosophy of science as to come across as retarded to the general public

most people are smart enough to understand that species have no interests for instance

so when a proponent of evolution talks nonsense like that - and they often do - they assume that the other guys maybe have a point

maybe the pro evolution crowd should take a hint from Jesus and take a log out of their own eye and so forth

fuck its almost 3 am and i cant sleep and i have school tomorrow

i think i may have to resort to extreme measures like swiping a shot of tequila from my dads liquor cabinet to help me sleep but i am not sure of the ethics of that

jesus fucking christ on a stick i am such a nerd

Kayla wrote:chaz i am sorry but you are making no sense

who is it exactly that has an interest in evolutionary survival of the sheep species

species is an abstract concept so sheep in general have no interest in anything at all

I'm sorry you have joined the ranks of the hard of thinking, but I cannot think of anyway to make what I said more simple.

I shall try. No one has an interest in the evolutionary survival of sheep.
I'm puzzled that you tell me that 'species' is an abstract concept that sheep can have no interest in and yet you are happy to use the idea of the individual sheep which is also an abstraction.
The simple fact is that evolution (an abstract concept) employs "sheep" and "species" in its abstractions. When I tell you that 'in terms of evolution' or 'with an evolutionary perspective' I am bound to use those concepts.



as an aside

you probably know that in my heck of the woods there are people who seriously want to teach creationism in biology classes

they are daft - thats a british word for nuts right - daft?

Yes, 'bonkers' is another.

unfortunately the pro evolution crowd is for most part so ignorant of science and philosophy of science as to come across as retarded to the general public

most people are smart enough to understand that species have no interests for instance

so when a proponent of evolution talks nonsense like that - and they often do - they assume that the other guys maybe have a point

maybe the pro evolution crowd should take a hint from Jesus and take a log out of their own eye and so forth

fuck its almost 3 am and i cant sleep and i have school tomorrow

i think i may have to resort to extreme measures like swiping a shot of tequila from my dads liquor cabinet to help me sleep but i am not sure of the ethics of that

jesus fucking christ on a stick i am such a nerd

Okay so we have evolved a language steeped in teleology and it is very hard to - or more importantly very clumsy and long winded to disclude all references to purpose and implications of intentionality. Obviously sheep do not intend to get eaten and yet their success as a species depends on their tastiness. Thus within the perspective of evolution which is interested in survival whatever helps a sheep survive is a positive adaptation
When I use the word 'interest' it does not necessarily imply a conscious interest. In the last sentence I said evolution is intersted, yet there is no consciousness to evolution.