(April 16, 2013 at 6:13 pm)ManMachine Wrote: Scientifically speaking, it is ridiculous to ask what the final cause (the purpose, end, aim, or goal) of the human species is because it doesn't have one. We are a current in the genetic tide and one day we will be washed away like all the extinct species that have gone before us.I think I understand your argument a lot better now.
When we talk about human progress we invoke a final cause, something to measure human progress against. This is utterly groundless. The belief that humans can progress is built on religious and in particurlar the Judao/Christian notion that we are somehow not like other animals. This is what I mean when I talk about anthropocentrism, our species ego, and is just not supported by empirical evidence.
One can only make progress if there is a goal in the first place. I would not say that there is an objective goal (unless you count survival), but I think a subjective goal that progress has been measured against (most simply) is increasing standard of living.
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
