The Issue of Evolution - Part 2
by A. Robert Malcom
The first thing which needs be remembered is that Reason is the absolute, the fundamental means of knowing reality - not believing, but knowing, a crucial distinction. The second, almost equally important thing which needs be remembered is that 'there are no contradictions in reality' - that is, the universe is integrated. The final most important to remember is context, context, context. I emphasize this because these, while oft-said by many, are oft said in the form of a mantra - without grasping the full nature of the concepts behind them. This is most so with regards to the issue of evolution.
It is not my purpose here to provide any 'proofs' to the issue - those, to the degree needed, in the context of the duration required, can be provided elsewhere. The issue here is the matter of principle - of understanding that evolution is nothing other than, as said earlier, '...the recognition that the universe is, by its nature, dynamic - and that aspects of the universe which involve duration reflect changes as consequence. ... the changes, in general, are progressive in nature - that is, the duration evolves.' This does not mean the progression proceeds on a strictly linear path - there are many variations which, within the context of what is being evolved, can be proscribed - each with the consequence of difference in being able to conform with the requirements, a priori, of reality. Those which cannot conform, cease to exist. To many, this is difficult to understand, as to most there is a greatly oversimplistic view of the complexity which comprises the universe - the fundamental principles of order are few, but the variations within the universe are beyond measuring, so vast are the numbers. Remember, the universe is the sum of that which exists - this means it is as big as is required for all the possibilities within the nature of reality to take place. Whether they all take place within the confines of a specific area is another matter - none the less, the possiblity resides there. This is particularly so when confronting the culminating results of the progression from the simple basics to the complexities involving geology of the planets, to say nothing of those involving biology.
It is here, though, in the understanding of biological processes, that we seem to most find a lacking of the principle of evolution witnessed over the whole of the universe as far as have been seen - and extrapolated. Even moreso, there is a failing to follow through [or allow oneself to follow through] 'noncontradictory identification' when it comes to the most evolved known biological processes - those possessing volitional consciousness. There is a disconcertingness among many self-aware entities that, beyond their ability of being self-aware, they must be otherwise different from all the rest of what exists - else, to them, there is no purposefulness in their existing. Yet, at the same time, there is an, informal it may be, intuitive recognition that they are indeed a part of the nature around them. To be an integrated part, though, requires that they, as members of a species, have a background within which that species began. The most logical, non-contradictorially identified understanding of this beginning is that of the Aquatic Ape - first proposed by the marine biologist Sir Alister Hardy, FRS, in an article in 'The New Scientist' in 1960.
to be continued......
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