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posted 11. November 2002 15:51
Two Kinds of Causality: Philosophical Reflections on Darwin's Black Box
by Jakob Wolf
ABSTRACT—Michael Behe´s theory of irreducibly complex systems can be supported by epistemological arguments inspired from Immanuel Kant’s critique of the teleological judgement. In an irreducibly complex system you find a causality which works in two direction absolutely simultaneously. The whole is both an effect of the parts and a cause of the parts. The causal connection between the parts and the whole is simultaneously an instance of two-way cause <-> effect. An unintelligent cause-effect-relation can never demonstrate an instance of such a causality. This explains why an irreducibly complex system is not susceptible to explanation by reference to an unintelligent cause-effect-relation. We are only familiar with two-way causality when intentionality and intelligence is involved. We see this everywhere in human life. For instance, a house is the cause of the money received in rent; but, at the same time, the anticipation of rental was the cause of its being built. The relationship between unintelligent cause-effect relations and intelligent cause-effect relations in an irreducibly complex system is that the relation between the parts in the system can be explained by unintelligent causes, but the system as a whole cannot. It can only be explained by the involvement of an intelligent cause. The irreducibly complex system is never explained in the biological sciences, but always presupposed.
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