The research of Eigen and hundreds of others has definite practical applications for all of us. It is fitting to observe, then, that this important work is an instance of Darwinism triumphant, reductionism triumphant, mechanism triumphant, materialism triumphant. It is also, however, the farthest thing from greedy<\/span> reductionism. It is a breathtaking cascade of levels upon levels upon levels, with new principles of explanation, new phenomena appearing at each level, forever revealing that the fond hope of explaining \u201ceverything\u201d at some one lower level is misguided. (p.195)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Dennett is so excited over the apparent fact that everything can seemingly be folded into the great algorithm of<\/p>\n
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- random variation,<\/li>\n
- natural selection, &<\/li>\n
- continuation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
He even turns the process back on Darwin: showing a series of prior ideas and theorists (Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, et al.) and the proper environmental conditions which just happened to pick this one peculiar random man, Charles Darwin, to ride along on a peculiar voyage halfway across the world. Then<\/span> still it has been necessary that Darwin\u2019s idea spawn offspring, some of which have their own offspring surviving to this day (a la Dennett), and some of which have died off (the Social Darwinists of Herbert Spencer).<\/p>\n
Darwinism has also had to borrow bits and pieces from other ideas, such as Mendelian genetics. In any case, just like the descent of man, the descent of Darwin\u2019s Idea has its share of twists and turns. There is no \u2018essence\u2019 of Darwinianism, nor is there an exact beginning, as the idea of evolution had already been around. Dennett follows this logic to say that it doesn\u2019t really matter that Darwin even existed! Someone would have (randomly<\/span>) put the pieces together to form a similar hypothesis (which would have likewise been naturally selected<\/span>) sooner or later and we would be using that man\u2019s (or woman\u2019s) name before our \u2018ism\u2019 suffix (continuation<\/span>).<\/p>\n
Of course that might be a little disheartening for those who would like to say, \u2018but we\u2019re special<\/span>\u2026 and so is Darwin.\u2019 The consolation in Dennett is found in the second half of the quote above. While everything can<\/span> be explained as a progression of higher and higher levels of complexity and organization, each new level<\/span> requires its own kind of explanation.<\/p>\n
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