Philosophy Structures Structure One: In the Origin

Philosophy Structures

Structure One:

In The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, page 66, Charles Darwin argues that organisms which have favorable traits are more likely to reproduce than members of the population with less favorable traits.

Reasons:

"Seeing that individual differences of the same kind perpetually recur, this can hardly be considered as an unwarrantable assumption" (Darwin 66).

"The ordinary belief that the amount of possible variation is a strictly limited quantity is likewise a simple assumption" (Darwin 66).

"As we see that those variations which, under domestication appear at any particular period of life, tend to reappear in the offspring at the same period; - for instance, in the shape, size, and flavor of the seeds of the many varieties of our culinary and agricultural plants…so in a state of nature, natural selection will be enabled to act on and modify organic beings at any age, by the accumulation of variations profitable at that age, and by their inheritance at a corresponding age" (Darwin 67).

I think Darwin's argument has this form:

Since an organism begins with favorable traits and mates frequently, that organism's genes are passed down to more offspring. Subsequent generations will be more likely to present those characteristics as they will be part of the organism's genetic code. If favorable traits present themselves more frequently, then the organism as a species eventually evolves so that all organisms have that favorable trait. Therefore, Darwin states, therefore, that since favorable traits present themselves in subsequent generations of an organism, this is evidence that the favored criterion was at one time introduced to the gene pool of that organism (Darwin 66).

Objections:

The only potential objections to Darwin's logic would be if a person believed in a religious viewpoint on adaptation. Darwin does not take into account the belief in an all-powerful, omniscient deity who controls the alteration and diversification of a species.

Structure Two:

In Kant, Immanuel Kant considers the following argument:

According to the article "What is Enlightenment?" human beings are not enlightened (Kant 1). They do not want to make decisions for themselves without someone else's input and therefore do not have to work at making the right choice for themselves. He is too lazy to do this and too afraid of making the wrong choice.

Reasons:

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance" (Kant 1).

"This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance" (Kant 1).

"Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large part of mankind gladly remain minors all their lives, long after nature has freed them from external guidance. They are the reasons why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as guardians" (Kant 1).

Conclusion:

"Thus it is very difficult for the individual to work himself out of the nonage which has become almost second nature to him. He has even grown to like it, and is at first really incapable of using his own understanding because he has never been permitted to try it" (Kant 2).

I think the argument that Kant considers has this form:

Enlightenment is escape from nonage, which is the inability to decide for the self without influence from others. Men do not want to take this responsibility because they are too lazy or too afraid. Therefore most men do not strive for enlightenment but remain burdened by requiring guidance.