Monday, January 14, 2019

Perfectionism and Evolution

Perfectionism is a system in which some Perfect condition is a limiting Telos.  Ancient Cosmology, e. g. Geocentrism, the upper bound of which is a divine realm, is, thus, Perfectionist.  Likewise, Ancient Philosophy, writ both large and small, is Perfectionist.  Thus, not only are a world of Forms, and Thought-Thinking-Itself, upper Ontological bounds, so, too, is the correction of deficiency, e. g. the loss of nutrients, of fluid, of energy, of equilibrium, of innocence, etc., a Teleological Psychological or Moral principle.  But, despite the repudiation of Geocentrism, Modern Philosophy has generally remained Perfectionist.  For example, despite the novelty of the concept of Duration as the fundamental stratum of Experience, Bergson's subsequent identifying it with Spiritual Elan Vital exposes it as traditionally Perfectionist.  It is thus antithetical to Evolutionism, in which Increase as the fundamental dynamic is as counter-Perfectionist as is the repudiation of Geocentrism.  Darwin's attempts to subordinate Evolution to Survival are thus also a Perfectionist reaction.

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