elfs | Logic as an evolved strategy...

So, I'm reading John Wilkins, one of those annoying know-it-alls whom I admire, and he has a thoughtful essay, The Logic of Evolution, in which he reveals a fascinating conundrum: if evolution is a correct explanation for our origins, then logic must be a function of our evolutionary heritage: "Logic", the formal tools for deciding truth from falsity, is a branch of biology.

Evolution, or rather the generalised aspects of the dynamics of evolution, are indeed the substrate of logic. To think otherwise is to think that logic exists in a Platonic heaven or is some kind of happenstance. Neither will really work - the one because of the baroque ontology it imposes, based, so far as we can tell, on our acceptance of Plato's post hoc justification for thinking his ideas are somehow in direct connection with the real world; the other based on the assumption that we "just have these concepts".

Way cool.

Current Mood: thoughtful
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mothball-07.livejournal.com

Having been an academic writer (and pretty good at obfuscation), I'm always a bit skeptical when I read something that used "durned big words" and doesn't convey an immediate meaning to me. Particularly when it seems to make the argument by counterpoint ("To think otherwise...")

I'm curious, what does this concept mean to you? (And/or how does he explain it in the book?) "Evolution .. [are] indeed the substrate of logic." In some sense is seems evolution could be argued to be the substrate of anything an evolved being does/is.

More rigourously, I would think you would have to show that logic increases with levels of evolution, and I would even argue, separate from thought. (In other words, thought may be a result of evolution. Does logic derive *independantly* from this, or as a side effect?) Are humans more logical than, say, dogs? Or are we talking about critical thought, more than logic?

I haven't read the book, but this does seem like it could be an interesting conversation... maybe I should fetch you a beer next time we find ourselves in the same location. :)