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.

The full paper is available below:
Two Kinds of Causality: Philosophical Reflections on Darwin's Black Box

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