1859, the year of publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, was the year that the concept of evolution exploded into popular consciousness. It went on to foment a controversy that raged for a hundred years and still continues, in some quarters, to be considered problematic. That was because Darwin, and independently Alfred Wallace, had… Continue reading The Evolution of Evolutionary Thinking
Tag: evolution
Beauty: more than the eye of the beholder (part 3)
In memory of Roger Scruton (1944-2020) Changes in the apperception of the beautiful across historical time and the very individuality of the experience of beauty, have led to a false doctrine of the relativity of beauty. In fact, the history of the development of knowledge supports an alternative view, that the variability across time and… Continue reading Beauty: more than the eye of the beholder (part 3)
Beauty: more than the eye of the beholder (part 2)
Changes in the apperception of the beautiful across historical time and the very individuality of the experience of beauty, have led to a false doctrine of the relativity of beauty and the negation of the idea that there is anything essential, constant or communicable regarding beauty. In fact, the history of the development of knowledge… Continue reading Beauty: more than the eye of the beholder (part 2)
The Soul of the World: Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolutionary Pantheism and its Challenge to Secular Humanism
Despite the obvious attractions of secular humanism, particularly in freeing individuals from conformity to religious doctrines unsupported by science, and by transcending religious particularism and exclusivity by focusing on the universality of the human experience, there are several problems with it. One is, at a fundamental philosophical level, there is no more evidence (there might… Continue reading The Soul of the World: Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolutionary Pantheism and its Challenge to Secular Humanism
Altruism and the Moral Matrix
What are the origins of altruistic behaviour in human society? One of the greatest debates in philosophy and the social sciences over the last few centuries has been the origins of altruistic behaviour in human beings. This issue can be approached from many perspectives, with the result that polarly opposed opinions not infrequently find themselves… Continue reading Altruism and the Moral Matrix