Philosopher Ruth Garrett Millikan speaks on 'The Tangle of Biological Purposes That Is Us'
"The Tangle of Biological Purposes That Is Us," by Ruth Garrett Millikan, Ph.D., professor emerita at the University of Connecticut, was the topic of the 51品茶's 2009 William D. Hamilton Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 in the St. Francis Room of the Ketchum Library at UNE's Biddeford campus.
From our genes to our public languages, a half dozen entwined levels of selection cooperate, but sometimes also conflict, each supporting a different level of purposes. Our own purposes, purposes of the individual, emerge from this tangle, sometimes triumphantly, sometimes conflictingly.
Before Darwin, science had no means for explaining the purposive aspects of nature. One of the most remarkable achievements of Darwinian theory was its explanation of biological purpose as a natural phenomenon. However, the relationship between biological purposiveness and the aims and ideals of individuals has hitherto remained obscure.
Can the latter be reduced to the former? Or is there something special about human nature that transcends our biological heritage? What about those human goals that do not aid survival or promote reproductive success? Can we explain these as the upshot of the evolutionary process?
In this presentation, Dr. Millikan addressed these questions, and explained how forward-looking goals, as well as goals that do not aid survival, can emerge from natural selection.
Ruth Garrett Millikan
Dr. Millikan is one of the most distinguished and innovative contemporary American philosophers. Professor emerita at the University of Connecticut, she has made important contributions philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and ontology. She is the author of Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories (1984), White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice (1993), On Clear and Confused Ideas (2000), The Varieties of Meaning: The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures (2004) and Language: A Biological Model (2005) as well as numerous papers. Dr. Millikan is the recipient of many honors, including the Jean Nicod Prize, the Distinguished Women in Philosophy award, and the first annual AAUP award for excellence in research.