Sunday, January 08, 2012

Hmm ...

... God’s more than a watchmaker - Telegraph. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Final causality is inherent in the properties of things. Try describing an organism and its parts without referring to functions, which is to say, final causes. How would you identify the heart or sexual organs of an unknown creature except by reference to their function? The point or “teleological element” of DNA is precisely what is interesting about it. That is why metaphors from computing are so popular in genetics, for computer programs have a point to them; they are teleological.

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