Darwin et la question de la finalité

• Main Author: Philippe Solal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès 2010-03-01
• Series: Miranda: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglophone
• Subjects: Darwin; Darwinism; finality; philosophy
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/miranda/330

The Darwinian theory of evolution questions the major concept which had allowed the most important philosophical doctrines to conceptualize nature: finality. It teaches us that the only species to hold their ground within variability are the fittest to survive in the environment, winning the “struggle for life” against other species. The others are pitilessly eliminated, and Darwin names this process of elimination natural selection. However, this selection is a pure mechanism, which means that there is no finality in it, no intention, no planning, but rather contingency and chance. Darwin is thus the one who separated the ideas of nature and finality. Still, the presentation of his theory shows Darwin’s constant fight against the reintroduction of this concept in his dealing with nature. It is as though the issue of finality had finally reasserted itself, coming to pollute the discourse which had tried to displace it. How can we interpret this persistence?