PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



edge, there is a special reason why evolution has been so 

 highly controversial. The theory of evolution may be a biol- 

 ogical theory, but it is one of a peculiar type. It has a far- 

 reaching aim — namely, nothing less than to explain the origin 

 of life and man. It pretends to say something about this origin 

 in a scientific way, and seems therefore an intrusion into the 

 territory of philosophy and theology. Or should we say that, 

 thanks to the doctrine of evolution, questions about the origin 

 of life and of man ceased to be fruitless speculation and 

 became open to scientific research and explanation? It is not 

 very easy to decide which point of view is right, especially 

 not because the theory of evolution could not immediately 

 show its true nature. For, even considered merely as a scienti- 

 fic theory, apart from its possible philosophical implications, 

 the theory of evolution has something of an ambivalent 

 character. 



As a rule, scientific theories are based upon experimental 

 data, which all have in common that they can be repeated at 

 will. Strictly speaking of course, no phenomenon taken as a 

 whole can be repeated. This being so, experimental science 

 must begin with analyzing the complicated concrete pheno- 

 menon in many aspects, each of which can be repeated. If 

 I drop my pencil, for example, at this moment, then this fall 

 is something unique for, as such, it can never be repeated. At 

 least some of the circumstances will be different (e.g., the 

 time-point). Yet, the pencil can be dropped again in slightly 

 different circumstances, some of which will be important, 

 while others are not. Instead of this pencil I can drop other 

 objects of the same weight, of the same size, of the same or of 

 different material and thus arrive at the general physical laws 

 of gravitation. These laws, therefore, do not speak about my 

 pencil as such, they speak only about objects with a certain 

 mass, at a certain distance, and so on. Consequently, with 

 respect to science, my pencil does not exist as a concrete 

 object, but in a scientific context its concreteness recedes; as 

 far as science is concerned, my pencil exists only as an instance 

 of a certain mass, shape, color, chemical composition, etc. 



With this general attitude of science in mind we easily see 

 the special position of the theory of evolution. For evolution 

 speaks about the origin of life as a unique event which took 



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