intelligent design in Nature

[Frederick W. Schueler]

John Grehan wrote:
>
> Purpose should have no place in evolutionary
> biology, yet it does.

* well sure -- purpose (survival, reproduction, agrandizement of
resources) is the first product of natural selection. Around the level
of the 'units of selection' attributing purpose is a useful shorthand
(if perilous in the presence of ID evangelists, and so long as the
author and reader both keep in mind the chain of hypotheses being
referenced) -- the Salamander goes to the pond to breed; the salivary
gland secretes amylase to digest starch -- it's when the language is
used below or above the units of selection -- the DNA achieves its
purposes in life or the species regulates its numbers -- that
attributing purpose is dangerous (or stupid), because it's not tied to
any real chain of reasoning, and is just error rather than a shorthand
notation.

fred (purposefully ducking down under the keyboard wearing a flame-proof
hat).
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