tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18968172.post4310562770581358405..comments2023-11-03T01:13:22.719-07:00Comments on The Rabbi Is IN with Rabbi Rami: Higgs, Higgs, Hurray!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18968172.post-12201422677717996542012-08-04T09:27:56.159-07:002012-08-04T09:27:56.159-07:00I have a problem, here. Two, in fact.
Let's ...I have a problem, here. Two, in fact. <br /><br />Let's start with the idea that evolution has a divine direction. This idea often goes hand in hand with the idea that evolution is progressive; progressive not just in the sense of leading toward more complex biological structures, but progressive in that it moves toward some ultimate moral good, a good which is inevitably defined in human terms. <br /><br />I have trouble with the idea that universe acts with intent, especially an intent that can be comprehended by human notions of morality. It seems like an example of the pathetic fallacy writ large. I also have trouble understanding how one might apply the notion of moral progress to evolution specifically. Modern mosquitos are currently undergoing evolution, in the form of speciation, in response to the use of pesticides. Is the pesticide resistant species more morally evolved?<br /><br />My other problem is that I'm very uncomfortable with the notion that we ought to place science in the context of a grand meaning-filled story. Grand meaning-filled stories are the bane of humanity. They are bloody and dangerous things. The Nazi's had a lovely story: the purification of humanity and the ascension of the Aryan race. The British Empire had a wonderful one about bringing the light of civilization to the savages. America had Manifest Destiny. Israeli settlers in occupied Palestine have the story of God's Promised Land. Radical Islam has Global Jihad. <br /><br />I know you have no truck with the above stories, and that the story you woud tell would be quite different. But what if the problem is story itself? Not the content of this story or that one, but the whole methodology. What if the problem is narrative?<br /><br />Look, narrative is a form of art, which is to say: artifice. The meanings created via narrative are themselves artificial. They are aesthetic effects. This is not to say that those meanings cannot be enlightening, or beautiful, or socially and politically powerful. It is not to say, even, that they can't be true. But they are true in a very limited and very human sense: they illuminate our encounter with life. <br /><br />Keats wrote: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty. This is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." He didn't mean it though. He was speaking in the voice of a talking urn.AaronHerschelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08886387346974535323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18968172.post-59087946156518896792012-07-18T20:56:28.557-07:002012-07-18T20:56:28.557-07:00Wonderful post. As a Christian who celebrates the ...Wonderful post. As a Christian who celebrates the Tao, dances on evolutionary shores, and welcomes tikun olam, this one is another breath of fresh air!Charles Kinnairdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651225996573989932noreply@blogger.com