This is one of the problems we humans have with language - we anthropomorphise nearly everything. Dawkins had the same problem when he named his famous book, The Selfish Gene. Of course no teleology was impleied, and the same goes here. We use terms like 'evolution designed...', when what we mean is 'the process of evolution resulted in...' - all rather long winded. So we tend to simplify the language, which in these discussions which are specifically about teleology, or the lack of it, is a little confusing. generally, if you are talking to an atheist you can take it as read that they don't mena agency when talking like this.
In fact it's often thought this propensity to anthropomorphise that leads us to the notion of design in nature, other agency, God.
5 comments:
Politically, I'm a liberal & I must say if anyone believes that liberal political movements are non-tribal, then they are a fool.
Overall, an interesting video that reinforced the smug, self-satisfied audience's tribal norms.
Maybe, when the revolution comes I'll be re-educated!
Totally brilliant... just peeved you beat me to posting it!
I was most struck by him saying that our 'Righteous Minds' were 'designed by evolution...'
Huh? Surely there can be no design allowed in evolution.
Hi Liz
I think that he is probably being sloppy with language - we all are..
This is one of the problems we humans have with language - we anthropomorphise nearly everything. Dawkins had the same problem when he named his famous book, The Selfish Gene. Of course no teleology was impleied, and the same goes here. We use terms like 'evolution designed...', when what we mean is 'the process of evolution resulted in...' - all rather long winded. So we tend to simplify the language, which in these discussions which are specifically about teleology, or the lack of it, is a little confusing. generally, if you are talking to an atheist you can take it as read that they don't mena agency when talking like this.
In fact it's often thought this propensity to anthropomorphise that leads us to the notion of design in nature, other agency, God.
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