Introduction: Part I of II
Constructing a Weltanschauung
Let’s begin.
What is the purpose of this Substack?
The purpose of Philosophy of Evolution is to build a Weltanschauung - a Worldview. A worldview in this sense is not just another philosophical system, but a meta-philosophy that is centered around the concept of Evolution. It is the aim of this Substack to build a Weltanschauung that shows how the twin concepts of Philosophy and Evolution work together to construct a rational, pragmatic, and verifiable view of Reality. In other words, objective reality AND subjective reality are grounded in Evolutionary principles. Exploring these principles is the entire point of this Substack.*
In keeping with the aims of Leo Apostel [Center Leo Apostel], as put for by Clement Vidal in the following two papers [Worldview Construction & What is a Worldview?] a worldview should answer the following six questions:
1. What is? (Metaphysics & Ontology)
2. Where does it all come from? (Etiology)
3. Where are we going? (Futurology)
4. What is good and what is evil? (Axiology)
5. How should we act? (Praxeology)
6. What is true and what is false? (Epistemology)
It’s the goal of this Substack to (eventually) answer all six of these questions since, as Vidal puts it, “constructing a worldview is the highest manifestation of philosophy.” However, it won’t be an easy, or quick, task. When discussing such a broad topic such as the Philosophy of Evolution, it is not just helpful, but necessary to have a guide.
*As a side note, this worldview is not founded upon any form of Religion, New Age mysticism, or any other unscientific ideologies. You won’t find any supernatural woo-woo here. I will simply defer to the late Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of Nonoverlapping Magisteria.