Book review at
NY Review of Books. The subject book authored by philosopher Thomas Nagel and titled: "Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Concept of Nature is Almost Certainly False".
Indeed he is an atheist. [Ed: You don't say!] Instead Nagel’s view is that neo-Darwinism, and in fact the whole materialist view elaborated by science since the seventeenth century, is radically incomplete. The materialist laws of nature must, he says, be supplemented by something else if we are to fold ourselves and our minds fully into our science.
His leading contender for this something else is teleology, a tendency of the universe to aim for certain goals as it unfolds through time. Nagel believes that (currently unknown) teleological laws of nature might mean that life and consciousness arise with greater probability than would result from the known laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.
Scientists shouldn’t be shocked by Nagel’s claim that present science might not be up to cracking the mind-brain problem or that a profoundly different science might lie on the horizon. The history of science is filled with such surprising transformations.
Nor should we dismiss Nagel’s claims merely because they originate from outside science, from a philosopher. Much the same thing happened when natural theology—the scientific attempt to discern God’s attributes from His biological handiwork—gave way to Darwinism.
It was the philosopher David Hume who began to dismantle important aspects of natural theology. In a devastating set of arguments, Hume identified grievous problems with the argument from design (which claims, roughly, that a designer must exist because organisms show intricate design).
Hume was not, however, able to offer an alternative account for the apparent design in organisms. Darwin worked in Hume’s wake and finally provided the required missing theory, natural selection.
Nagel, consciously or not, now aspires to play the part of Hume in the demise of neo-Darwinism. He has, he believes, identified serious shortcomings in neo-Darwinism. And while he suspects that teleological laws of nature may exist, he recognizes that he hasn’t provided anything like a full theory. He awaits his Darwin.
The reviewer here claims the author posits that "the universe" is "aiming for goals"... this is interesting.
Right now, we should perhaps then look at these events we are witnessing today in economic policy as "the universe" has a goal of making morons out of all of the political leadership of western civilization.
I would add that if "the universe" is seeking this goal, then it is currently doing a VERY good job in pursuit of this goal!
Maybe there is nothing we can do about the economic injustice we observe today if it is "the universe" that is doing all of this. I don't think we would stand much chance against "the universe", that would seem an insurmountable foe to myself anyway.
Why then bother?
If we are led to believe this guy, perhaps we should just get out the popcorn and just continue to watch this "universe" controlled moron-fest where the by-product is that broad public purpose is being crushed by narrow private interest within humanity here in the west.
