"4.1122 The Darwinian theory has no more to do with philosophy than has any other hypothesis of natural science.
4.113 Philosophy limits the disputable sphere of natural science." (Wittgenstein, Tractatus)
"67. I can think of no better expression to characterize these
similarities than 'family resemblances'; for the various resemblances
between members of a family: build, features, colour of eyes, gait,
temperament, etc. etc. overlap and criss-cross in the same way.—
And I shall say: 'games' form a family.
And for instance the kinds of number form a family in the same way.
Why do we call something a 'number'? Well, perhaps because it
has a—direct—relationship with several things that have hitherto
been called number; and this can be said to give it an indirect relationship
to other things we call the same name. And we extend our concept
of number as in spinning a thread we twist fibre on fibre. And
the strength of the thread does not reside in the fact that some one
fibre runs through its whole length, but in the overlapping of many
fibres.
But if someone wished to say: "There is something common to all
these constructions—namely the disjunction of all their common
properties"—I should reply: Now you are only playing with words.
One might as well say: 'Something runs through the whole thread—
namely the continuous overlapping of those fibres'." (Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations)
"The question is whether the broad pattern of world history would have been altered significantly if some genius inventor had not been born at a particular place and time. The answer is clear: there has never been any such person. All recognized famous inventors had capable predecessors and successors." (Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel, p. 245)
"Culturele 'mutaties' zijn niet uitsluitend, zoals in de biologische evolutie, afhankelijk van toeval, maar worden vaak doelbewust voortgebracht. Cultuur kan worden beschouwd als een poging om het blinde toeval te bedwingen. In het bijzonder de moderne wetenschappen en techniek hebben de mens krachtige instrumenten in handen gegeven om het voor de natuurlijke selectie vereiste toeval naar zijn hand te zetten. Dat heeft ook zijn neerslag op de biologische evolutie, die onderwerp wordt van een niet-natuurlijke selectie. Door teelt wordt de toevalligheid van de genetische recombinatie onderworpen aan een menselijk ontwerp en met behulp van genetische manipulatie worden zelfs de voorheen toevallige genetische mutaties onderwerp van technisch beheer. Uiteindelijk heeft de mens daarmee zeggenschap gekregen over zijn eigen evolutie. De mens is daarmee het eerste dier geworden dat in staat is zijn eigen evolutionaire opvolgers te creëren." (de Mul, Cyberspace Odyssee, pp. 285-286)
Nein.
"From a remote period, in all parts of the world, man has subjected many animals and plants to
domestication or culture. Man has no power of altering the absolute conditions
of life; he cannot change the climate of any country; he adds no new element to
the soil; but he can remove an animal or plant from one climate or soil to
another, and give it food on which it did not subsist in its natural state. It
is an error to speak of man 'tampering with nature' and causing
variability. If a man drops a piece of iron into sulphuric acid, it cannot be
said strictly that he makes the sulphate of iron, he only allows their elective
affinities to come into play. If organic beings had not possessed an inherent
tendency to vary, man could have done nothing." (Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Vol.1 , p. 2)
"Intellectual progress usually occurs through sheer abandonment of questions together with both alternatives they assume -- an abandonment that results from their decreasing vitality and a change of urgent interest. We do not solve them: we get over them. Old questions are solved by disappearing, evaporating, while new questions corresponding to the changed attitude of endeavor and preference take their place." (Dewey, The Influence of Darwinism on Philosophy)
"Net zo zeker als na de zomer de winter komt, komt na het interglaciaal de volgende ijstijd. De enige manier om het effect te verzachten is ervoor te zorgen dat er zo veel mogelijk koolzuurgas in de atmosfeer terechtkomt. Stoken, Greenpeace! Red het klimaat van de Finnen!" (Kroonenberg, De Menselijke Maat, p. 194)
"Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts that simply do not make evolutionary sense." (Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, p. 2)
"Unless they are manipulated by a parasite, the only group that animals ever favour over the individual is the family." (Ridley, The Origins of Virtue, p. 176)
