PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



development of one form of life into another. The same applies 

 to the gradual unfolding of the cognitive faculty. With man 

 this faculty has a status which is essentially different from 

 what we have called the degree of knowledge proper to matter. 

 Yet, there is an analogy. The cognitive faculty is not an 

 entirely new factor. 



5. Evolution and Finality 



It is a matter not devoid of interest to note that so far our 

 reflections on the different status of being, proper to inanimate 

 and animate nature and to man, did not say anything specific 

 about evolution. Their only purpose was to point out how 

 intimate the relations are between the different levels in 

 nature, and how we have to consider these relations as a 

 gradual unfolding of being. But this point of view neither 

 proves nor disproves evolution. Needless to say, however, that 

 this does not mean that our philosophical reflections were 

 superfluous or irrelevant. For, although it is not the task of 

 philosophy to prove or disprove evolution, philosophical ar- 

 guments are as a matter of fact used in the discussions of 

 evolution, and for this reason they have to be examined in 

 order to know in what way they affect the theory of evolution. 



This theory takes the line that all forms of life not only 

 are related to one another, but that they descend from an 

 original primitive form of life which itself has developed from 

 non-living matter. In one word, the theory of evolution con- 

 siders the general relationship between the different forms of 

 life as kinship. Whether or not this is true, only biology and 

 biochemistry can decide, and not philosophy. We have seen, 

 however, that the problem involved is not easy to decide on 

 account of the peculiar nature of the problem which has not 

 only a scientific, but also an "historical" aspect. The historical 

 data are by their very nature scarce, there is not enough to 

 go on, and much has to be extrapolated. In such a situation 

 proponents of the various possible viewpoints look for all 

 kinds of arguments to bolster their respective opinions. So it 

 was quite natural that some adherents of evolution who did 

 not believe in creation, found in this dislike the strongest 

 support to their doctrine — it seemed the only way out. It was 

 quite natural too that on the rebound, some who did believe 



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