> Aristotle was a teleologist and anti-evolutionist. Yes, there
> were evolutionists even in Aristotle's day :). The most prominant
> evolutionist of the day was one Empedocles, who was vigorously
> opposed by Aristotle. Empedocles views, according to Asma [**],
> were "...so similar, in spirit, with our Darwinian Paradigm."
I recall that Aristotle recognized teleological explanation as
one of several categories of explanation; I didn't know he exalted
teleology personally. Aristotle is noted for taking a neutral stance
while enumerating possibilities exhaustively.
Empedocles had a dynamic view of the world, following Heraclitus;
he was into 'becoming' as opposed to mere 'being'. I don't know
that this very general idea is enough to make him a Darwinian,
even is spirit. His evolutionary writings are weird, very fragmentary,
poetic, and vague. He spoke of body parts wandering alone before
coming together. I don't think many have followed up on this notion.
But it reminds me of my own suggestion about radical hybridization
enabling rapid evolution to create the cambrian explosion of forms.
-- Cliff Lundberg ~ San Francisco ~ cliff@noevalley.com