Philosophy 2203E Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Abductive Reasoning, Second Voyage Of Hms Beagle, A Common Thread
3 Oct 2016
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Efficient causes & final causes: darwin"s big idea: efficient cause: an external agency operates on the chalk and is the reason the chalk moves. Their causes that are due to the physical process of things: final cause, darwin is on a mission to prove there"s no such thing as final causes. Darwin quoting aristotle: aristotle, in his physicae auscultationes" (lib. & in like manner as to the other parts in which there appears to exist an adaptation to an end. Aristotle comprehended the principle, is shown by his remarks on the formation of teeth. Charles lyell"s argument for a uniformitarian hypothesis influenced the young darwin. Darwin read the principles of geology on his famous h. m. s. Darwin would eventually conceive of the alterations of living things in terms of a cumulative effect of many very small changes over the course of time.
