From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Tue Sep 16 2003 - 12:02:55 EDT
In a message dated 9/16/03 9:25:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
hvantill@chartermi.net writes:
> Yes, we do encounter some conceptual difficulty in specifying a hard
> boundary between not yet human and human along a continuous evolutionary
> parent/offspring line. At what particular point would the uniquely human qualities of
> God awareness, moral awareness, and moral responsibility become present at an
> "adequate" level? Some millions of years ago the creatures present on Earth
> had no awareness of God (The Sacred), no awareness of the moral difference
> between right and wrong, no sense of responsibility to do the right and to shun
> the wrong. Now there are such creatures -- us. Those uniquely human
> qualities may have been there potentially millions of years ago (to be actualized
> much later in time), but not yet actually. Furthermore, many persons find it
> impossible to think of these human qualities as something that could develop
> "naturally," that is, without some form of divine intervention.
>
The reason animals don't need moral awareness and responsibility at an
'adequate' level is because their behavior is instinctive as opposed to man's
learned behavior with its expanded self consciousness. To the degree animal
behavior is instinctive it is governed by God, morals are unnecessary as there is no
free will. To the degree behavior is based on learning it requires a moral
awareness and responsibility. The technical dimensions and implications of this
"hard boundary" are the subject of the first half of - True Religion, the
Darwinian Interpretation of Biblical Symbols
> However, It seems to me that we encounter a similar difficulty in a
> phenomenon much closer to our own experience -- our own development from a fetus to
> an adult. Some years ago, as a fetus, each of us had no awareness of God (The
> Sacred), no awareness of the moral difference between right and wrong, no
> sense of responsibility to do the right and to shun the wrong. Now, as adults,
> we have all of those qualities. Those uniquely human qualities may have been
> there potentially in our fetal stage (to be actualized later in time), but
> not yet there actually. Uniquely human capabilities developed within us
> gradually. Furthermore, it seems that we are comfortable with the idea that we
> developed these capabilities naturally as part of normal human development
> (without divine intervention, using the developmental gifts of the created world).
>
rich faussette
> Question: If we are comfortable with this lack of discontinuity in our own
> gradual and natural developmental history from fetus to adult, why should we
> be uncomfortable envisioning a similar lack of discontinuity in the history
> of the species?
>
> Howard Van Till
>
>
>
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