Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
problem arises when one asks the why question of one discipline from
within the perspective of another. Or when one insists on the criteria
from one discipline as being the only criteria acceptable for verification.
While it is the case that the boundaries of these disciplines more fre-
quently resemble semipermeable membranes rather than fixed borders,
one continually needs to be sensitive to what kind of question one is
asking and what are acceptable criteria for evaluating an answer. Border
crossings are to be expected in our interdisciplinary world, but one must
also remember to respect the customs and culture of the territory we
visit.
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Conclusions
Dawkins is totally transparent in his disdain for religion. At best, reli-
gion is a holdover from a past filled with ignorance. At worst, it is
false security for the desperate and immature. Wilson recognizes the
need for mythology and grandeur in human life. And he says this need
will be fulfilled admirably by our evolutionary myth, the grandest myth
we have. Yet he too, like Dawkins, winds up with a form of philosoph-
ical materialism that admits no transcendence, no reality other than
matter.
Dawkins argues against a form of genetic predestination or determin-
ism. He states that we are the only creatures who can rebel against our
genes. Wilson also argues for a type of distance from the genes in that
we can build various cultures, though he adds that the genes will always
keep the culture on a leash of varying length.
We have here two central philosophical claims that have specific appli-
cability to human nature: materialism and freedom. The claims serve as
working hypotheses of the analytic framework for both of these men,
but they are not given any full examination or defense. For both Dawkins
and Wilson, the claims of philosophical materialism are strongly made,
yet both seem to want some slack cut in their conclusions. We continue
to live in our world of “as if”: as if we were free, as if belief made a dif-
ference, as if meaning mattered. In cold, hard reality, however, none of
this may be true. For evolution is without direction, matter began and
it will end, species evolve and go extinct, the world eventually ends. If
anything, the human species is cursed because through consciousness, it
