I was trying to figure out what Fodor could have been thinking. Here’s what I came up with: If we are trying to figure out what Evolution has done, then we presuppose that Evolution is capable of doing something. If Evolution is capable of doing something, then there must be some mechanism of Evolution that does the doing. Now imagine yourself in the position of the mechanism of Evolution that does the doing, i.e. the […]
Month: February 2010
Fodor’s Intensional Criticism of Evolution
Fodor’s intensional criticism of evolution is that the process of evolution is unable to make the necessary distinctions in selecting traits. This is to say that evolution itself cannot select for specific traits. If evolution can’t select for traits, then we will definitely not be able to figure out what’s happening based on evolution. Hence evolution is not a good theory. Does evolution need a mechanism to select for certain traits? No, there is no […]
On Block and Kitcher on Fodor
Ned Block and Philip Kitcher have posted a review of Fodor/Piatelli-Palmarini’s “What Darwin Got Wrong” (via Leiter). It is a well executed, though flawed, counter to Fodor’s arguments. First they give a nice rundown of the underdetermination issue I posted about here. Then they discuss the “intensional fallacy”. They argue that the crux of F & P’s argument can be seen as trying to split up the causal efficacious trait and the selected-for trait. This […]