1:09 p.m., Nov. 30, 2009----Rutgers philosophy professor Jerry Fodor will present “What Darwin Got Wrong,” the final lecture in the University of Delaware's Year of Darwin Celebration, on Monday, Dec. 7, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Room 120 of Smith Hall.
Fodor, the State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, has been a principal figure in cognitive science since its inception. Previously on the faculty at MIT, he has written such landmark works as Psychological Explanation, which helped invent the now dominant view of functionalism in the philosophy of mind. Functionalism, which says that mental states are constituted by their causal relations to one another and to sensory inputs and behavioral outputs, is a major theoretical development of the 20th century.In his forthcoming book with co-author Massimo Piattelli-Palmarinin, What Darwin Got Wrong (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, February 2010), Fodor argues that the Darwinian account of evolution is committed to a fallacious inference from “creatures with such and such a trait are selected,” to “creatures are selected for having such and such a trait.” He argues that this fallacy is fatal and suggests new ways of thinking about evolution.
When Fodor first presented his critique on Darwinism in the London Review of Books, it “generated heated discussion on both sides of the Atlantic. What Darwin Got Wrong is certain to be as controversial as it is precisely argued,” Amazon.com notes.
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for International Studies, the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, and the Department of Anthropology, with additional support from the Provost's Office, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Science, Ethics and Public Policy Program, and the following departments: Biological Sciences, English, Geography, Geological Sciences, and Philosophy.
UD's Year of Darwin Celebration launched last May in honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his landmark work On the Origin of Species. The series was organized by Karen Rosenberg, professor and chairperson of the Department of Anthropology.
Source/Fonte: University of Delaware
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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:
Interessante a atitude da University of Delaware: no apagar das luzes das celebrações de louvaminhices, beija-mão e beija-pé de Darwin em todo o mundo, finalmente uma palestra sobre as dificuldades fundamentais da teoria da evolução no contexto de justificação teórica. O nome disso é objetividade e a busca pela verdade científica.
Infelizmente aqui no Brasil, todas as universidades, com exceção da Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie e a Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul (com o Depto. de Biologia meio contrariado, mas...) que resolveram 'ouvir o outro lado', como vaquinhas de presépio, só fizeram palestras, conferências e simpósios louvando o homem que teve a maior ideia que toda a humanidade já teve, mas que as evidências encontradas na natureza se recusam em corroborar.
O nome disso é culto à personalidade, idolatria secularizada e desonestidade acadêmica, pois já estamos bem próximos de uma nova teoria da evolução - a Síntese Evolutiva Ampliada, que não deve e nem pode ser selecionista. Gene, não dá para tapar o Sol das evidências contrárias encontradas em várias áreas da ciência com uma peneira furada de hipóteses ad hoc y otras cositas mais que não se sustentam no contexto de justificação teórica [Argh, isso é como cometer um genocídio!!!]
Fodor é XYZ!
