Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Purpose and evolution: a sketch of an argument

Ancient pre-history is not directly relevant to the question of what medical procedures are now morally appropriate. Whether eyes are for seeing is directly relevant to the morality of medical procedures—for instance, it directly affects whether a doctor should agree to blind a patient who wants to be blind. Therefore whether eyes are for seeing is not something that reduces to facts about evolutionary history.