On 8/24/2015 10:27 AM, Evgenii Rudnyi wrote:
Am 23.08.2015 um 19:47 schrieb meekerdb:
On 8/23/2015 12:07 AM, Evgenii Rudnyi wrote:
...
The comments do not answer Fodor's argument. To this end, you can
read his answer to comments.
I read his answer and it's silly. He says that Darwin's explanation
of why polar bears are white is incoherent because the natural
selection of white polar bears doesn't entail Darwin's explanation.
But that's silly because scientific explanations are never entailed
by the experimental evidence they explain.
To understand Fodor's answer it is necessary to understand his argument.
Shortly:
1) Natural selection is assumed to be unintentional. It just happens but it does not has
a goal.
2) The existence of coextensive traits in the organism is the rule. Hence natural
selection should not only select a trait, rather it must select for.
But that's Fodor's made up, imaginary version of natural selection. Natural selection
isn't required to select for some trait. It only means that given a situation some traits
lead to more successful reproduction than others. Fodor is taking a metaphorical phrase,
reinterpreting it anthropomorphically, and then saying, "See that phrase doesn't apply."
Brent
3) "Select for" is a part of an intentional process. Hence according to the point 1,
natural selection cannot select for.
Whiteness of a polar bear is an coextensive trait. To select it means to select it for.
Natural selection cannot do it.
Well, one has also to define natural selection more carefully, as it happens that
different people understand what natural selection is differently. Fodor's definition to
this end is in the paper.
Evgenii
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