The Phenomenon of Life (Hans Jonas; Philosophical Biology)

READ: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810117495/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=c...
ALSO http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557535612/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=c...

Category:

Education

Tags:

• life
• biology
• Hans Jonas
• transcendence
• existence
• mediation
• expansion
• individuation
• inwardness
• outwardness

[drknsqueen]

awesome.

[Professoranton]

@drknsqueen Thanks! Best to you

[Elenkhos]

This is one reason why I have dissputed that evolution is mindless. There is no reason for it, other than the development of intellect. People espouse that evolutions driving force is survival but why? If it's mindless forces, then It could have stopped long ago at the stage of bacterium. Bacteria survive in just about every condition on the planet and do well. You can't say that evolutions driving forces is survival, and then take the intellect out of it.

[Professoranton]

@Elenkhos Thanks. I agree. If continuance were the issue, life would not have emerged and if survival were the issue why higher mammals?

[soulfetcher]

Great video Corey!

Yes, matter seems 'pregnant' with groping-toward-complexity. Jonas said in an interview "My own conjecture is that everywhere within the depths of matter there is a kind of waiting for the opportunity to also unfold the potentiality for life. The opportunity is very rare, but wherever it opens itself up, matter, as it were, will shoot into this opening and go the way of life."

[soulfetcher]

This reminds me of Maturana's talk of "stickiness" of living systems – by which greater levels of complexity might emerge. He later abandoned academic caution and called it love.

It’s reminiscent of Hesiod (600BCE) who called Eros a primal cosmic principle (the first to arise out of chaos) & before man & gods.

All this suggests that altruism in more complex living systems is a fundamental attribute rather than an epiphenomenon of its survival.

Maybe its apparent teleology is an “as-if-ness”

[mikeisapro]

If you want to see/experience this unfolding of evolution and feeling of advancement/complexity, try salvia divinorum!

[natedaug1]

Great vision.

[rahulk552008]

@Professoranton Evolution doesn't really have a single purpose like "ensuring survival" or any of that. The way I understand it is that random mutations happen among individuals in species. Most of these mutations are generally just errors in the replication of DNA, so they negatively affect the survival rate of the individual. Some of them though, offer advantages in the environment and thus help propagate the genes of that individual. Overtime, the mutations perfect themselves.

[Elenkhos]

The Universe is intelligent because you are intelligent, this is pure deductive logic.Intellect is 'good' because it can reflect on what is 'good' or more desirable.As to why the Universe would want to be intelligent: Why would molecules want to replicate? Why would simple molecule replication lead to a sentient self reflective bing that desires survival?Also,what about Hawking's projected Universe?They very seriously believe our Universe is projected from an other dimension,what does this?

[kittygirl792]

@Elenkhos meaning into it like we were going to do regardless of if we knew the "right" answer about the "objective meaning" of it all.

Plus, why is intelligence good? I understand we might enjoy it now that we're alive, but why would the universe "want" to be intelligent?

[kittygirl792]

@Elenkhos @Elenkhos Why would you think there's a "why" in nature when a "how" is enough to explain everyting. In order for a set of forces to work toward a specific goal they must be consious (or something consious must have set them in motion). we can't think like this because creating a theoretical comples being to explain complexity doesn't get the job done! (that's why it fails as an argument got god)

Why can't we just agree that complexity in the universe is meaningless, and inject our own

[Mrtitmice]

interesting views, i had to clear the cobwebs from my mind to watch this.

[Elenkhos]

@stefanlittle You're welcome to say what you like, you're a big boy, put on your big boy pants.

[stefanlittle]

@Elenkhos

Well that is a discussion stopper if I have ever read one. Yes, I'll just stay out of your "big boy" ideas and talk then. sigh