07.24.09
Wallace on cruelty and design, …and Schopenhauer
Alfred Russel Wallace vs. Charles Darwin on cruelty in nature
It is not clear to me exactly where Wallace is coming from, while Darwin, for once, has a point that suffering is a problem for design proponents.
We should keep in mind that Wallace’s thinking was fluid and creatively moving. But whatever the case, the design argument in the hands of Christians suffers a near check mate on this point. That does not fully invalidate design arguments.
One should recommend Schopenhauer on this point, and consider the ‘design’ arugment (nothing much of the kind) in the hands of an atheist, whose theme of the ‘Will’ is extremely realistic about the cruelty of nature.