The crucial thought behind evolutionary accounts of proper function or teleology is that organisms succeed in reproducing because they are fulfilling a function, and wouldn’t have reproduced otherwise. In a paper with Koons, I offer a Great Grazing Ground objection to all such accounts.
Here, I want to offer a perhaps neater objection. Imagine Twin Earth just like Earth, with a biological history just like ours. But there is an extremely powerful alien, akin to Frankfurt’s counterfactual intervener, who has a script for all the details of biological history on that planet. That script, completely by chance, matches all the events on both Twin Earth and Earth. But the counterfactual intervener has the following immovable policy: if there is any deviation from the script on Twin Earth, the alien restores conditions to the same ones that would have resulted according to the script. Moreover, the alien’s restoration would occur before there is any deviation in reproduction or survival. But, by good fortune, no intervention is ever needed: everything actually follows the script.
Imagine, for instance, that a bird is attacked by a predator. On Earth, it escapes on its wings and reproduces. The same happens on Twin Earth. But on Twin Earth, had the bird not flown, the alien would have intervened, moved the bird out of danger, and then restored everything to the post-flight situation in the script. Consequently, on Twin Earth, it is false that had the bird not flown, it wouldn’t have reproduced. Indeed, apart from trivial cases like “Had x not reproduced, it wouldn’t have reproduced”, on Twin Earth the counterfactuals allegedly defining proper function or teleology hold. Yet events on Twin Earth are just as on Earth, and the alien doesn’t do anything but watch. And it is deeply implausible that simply by watching the alien destroys proper function or teleology.
Are you still smoking ?
ReplyDeleteIn your case the gene are transmitted, but as the bird didn't flow, it has a brain/ vision defect in addition to the real one, that will perhaps be transmitted, if you arbitrarily change the situation, of course the fixed event will be different. Focus on reality.
If your alien did nothing, only evolution at work, had he done something, not only evolution, the two cases are not similar... You are mixing apples and oranges.
Now, to readily show you your errors in arbitrarily defining a telos, the telos of a fish is to fly, how is your god so weak that he couldn't get that poor fish to do it's telos ? Of course you will look at evolution works to see the fish swimming, and say that my assumptions are wrong , while not noticing that you only filter to define a telos is only evolution...
I just read your other article, lol, notice that all your animals are ALREADY shaped by NS before you magically made them immortals, so there is mindedness in W2, as you magically teleported it here, something the author didn't really focused on... Biology textbook are not made for you, they talk about reality, short and precise, not random imaginary situations.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course rejecting 9 cause no problems, as your aliens act while you already rejected that the region is impotant by using it for your calculations, like a singularity, it doesn't affect outside but works on the inside. Only your magic narrator could find a conflict, because it sees both areas, something impossible in reality. ( No infos can go to him from the area, elseway you refute your own setting).
DeleteAlex
ReplyDeleteThere is no teleology on Twin Earth and there is no evolution either.
There is simply chance.
So I really don't see the point of your argument.
Evolutionary just-so stories, like the original ones, are very vulnerable to becoming vacuous or silly. Of course, in the present case it was in fact desired that the result lead to absurdity. I guess that was the point. Evolutionary just-so stories based on counterfactuals may be a nonstarter.
ReplyDeleteIn the other paper, every organism reproduces and lives forever. I don't see how there is any room for natural selection there. It's just that there is no teleology.
ReplyDeleteWalter: Without teleology, it is difficult if not impossible to make functionalism work. And functionalism is the best hope for a physicalist theory of mind.
Alex
ReplyDeleteBut on Twin Earth, there is no teleology, not because there is an alien there, but because you have removed thé very aspect that makes evolution 'teleological', namely selection. There is nothing there you select that Bird over others.
But whether there is mind shouldn't depend on the alien simply watching.
ReplyDeleteBut it doesn't depend on the alien simply watching. It depends on whether there is selection.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if I may ask, where is the selection on Twin Earth?
But there not being selection on Twin Earth is simply a result of the alien watching with certain dispositions that are never actualized. Every actual causal connection between organisms and environment on Twin Earth is just as on Earth.
ReplyDeleteDoes thé 'fitter' Bird survive and reproduce on Twin Earth?
ReplyDeleteIf so, there is 'teleology' , if not, there is none.
It,s as simple as that.
It survives and reproduces, but would have done so even if it didn't fly. So it survives and reproduces, but not because it is fitter.
ReplyDeleteSo, thé real difference between Twin Earth and our Earth is that on Twin Earth 'being fit' does not matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why there is no teleology there. But there is teleology on our Earth, because here it does matter.