[Taxacom] teleology example

[Curtis Clark]

On 2013-03-11 10:14 AM, Dick Jensen wrote:
>
> I think it depends on what one means by (i.e, how one defines) 
> "belief".  I believe that certain things will happen in the 
> laboratory, and in nature, because there are sound scientific 
> explanations for them.  This form of belief is not the same as what is 
> generally accepted for religious belief; the idea that I accept, 
> simply by faith with no empirical evidence, that something is true or 
> can be explained.
>

Reminds me of another American joke, about baptism (one that I first 
heard unnecessarily racialized), which has the punch line "Yeah, I 
believe. I believe you're trying to drown me." Natural language is a 
wondrous thing.

> The same holds for "purpose".  Given John Grehan's position that 
> definitions don't matter, it seems that another explanation is that 
> Grehan and Winter are using two different definitions of purpose (at 
> least one definition of purpose makes no reference to intent).  If 
> that's the nature of the problem, then there can be no resolution 
> until both provide a definition of what they mean by "purpose".
>

Borrowing from a belief-based text, "By their fruits you will know them."

-- 
Curtis Clark        http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark
Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4140
Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA 91768