PHL100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Norman Conquest Of England, Optical Illusion
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If all our knowledge comes from cause and effect, it requires inductive inferences: but how to justify induction, we (cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:859)t appeal to its su(cid:272)(cid:272)ess (cid:449)ithout (cid:272)i(cid:396)(cid:272)ula(cid:396)it(cid:455, o do(cid:374)(cid:859)t ask why instead just ask what we do. Modern science explains away final causes: there are none in physics. In biology, they can be understood in terms of natural selection: if an organ has a function, that means it is present because of what it does: organ x has function f means: X exists because its ancestors caused f (and got a selective advantage over those (cid:449)ho did(cid:374)(cid:859)t(cid:895) E. g. the function of the heart is to circulate the blood. The heart exists because ancestral hearts did so. O(cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:859); (cid:858)the no(cid:396)(cid:373)a(cid:374)s (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:395)ue(cid:396)ed e(cid:374)gla(cid:374)d i(cid:374) (cid:1005)(cid:1004)66(cid:859: not sufficient: we ha(cid:448)e vivid et(cid:272). thoughts of thi(cid:374)gs (cid:449)e do(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:271)elie(cid:448)e: e. g. (cid:449)he(cid:374) (cid:449)e see a realistic horror movie, or read a vivid fictional description. Visual illusions: when seeing is not believing.
