[Avodah] The Cult of Pe'or and Darwinism

[Yitzchak Schaffer]

On 6/30/2010 06:15, Prof. Levine wrote:
>> ... which is why we need a different type of Darwinism, that which does
>> not limit its world to the material, and sees man as a higher species of
>> animal *plus* a Divine soul.
> 
> Two questions come to mind.
> 
> 1. Why do we need any type of Darwinism?
> 
> 2. Would this "different type of Darwinism" be science? After all,
> science is interested in explaining how things occur, not the underlying
> why. The simplest explanation that explains a given phenomenon is the
> one that is almost always used. It seems to me that science has no need
> for spiritual considerations.
> 

1. I don't mean to imply that we necessarily need Darwinism, rather that /if/ one accepts some kind of Darwinian view on evolution, one needs to limit it to the realm of the physical (and biological).

2. When I read the excerpt from RSRH, I think of those who equate success of evolution with that of philosophical materialism - the whole is merely a sum of its material parts. Miller in /Finding Darwin's God/ has a chapter on this (The gods of disbelief) that I as a layman found useful. The case has been made that evolution does not exclude the transcendent; see RNSlifkin's comparison to Hashem's role in the events of Megillas Esther. 

-- 
Yitzchak Schaffer
Systems Manager
Touro College Libraries
33 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010
Tel (212) 463-0400 x5230
Fax (212) 627-3197
Email yitzchak.schaffer at tourolib.org

Access Problems? Contact systems.library at touro.edu