I just finished reading Mind & Cosmos; Why the
materialist New-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false,
by Thomas Nagel who is a world-class philosopher. I need to preface my remarks
by saying that my field is not philosophy. That, combined with the fact that I
read the book rather quickly (which is not usually the best way to read
philosophy) means that my understanding of the book may be quite limited and
even wrong at points.
Nevertheless, as I understand it, Nagel argues that it is virtually
impossible for mind, consciousness, reasoning and values to emerge spontaneously
from matter in a Neo-Darwinian system. Consistent with his atheism, Nagel rejects
theism and intelligent design but, in my opinion, without adequate reason (other
than the fact that he just doesn’t like it).
If I understand Nagel correctly, his very tentative solution seems to be that purpose is somehow just built into the fabric of the universe. Nagel’s reasoning seems to be:
1) It is pretty much impossible that mind could evolve from matter under a Neo-Darwinian system [I agree]
2) Theism is not worth serious consideration [Nagel mentioned but did not seriously engage with arguments for intelligent design other than to agree that proponents have raised serious questions about the origin of life under a Neo-Darwinian system].
3) The only alternative seems to be the idea that purpose is built into the very fabric of the universe [but if it is impossible for matter to spontaneously evolve into consciousness and mind, how is it possible—without a Designer—that dead matter is somehow endued with purpose from the start?]
Deep, thought provoking read from an honest, non-militant atheist perspective.
