Where Conscious Subjectivity Is Concerned, There Is

Nowadays Nobody Bothers, And It Is Considered In Slightly Bad Taste To Even Raise The Question Of God's Existence. Matters Of Religion Are Like Matters Of Sexual Preference: They Are Not Discussed In Public, And Even The Abstract Questions Are Discussed Only By Bores.

It Seems To Me Obvious That Infants And Many Animals That Do Not In Any Ordinary Sense Have A Language Or Perform Speech Acts Nonetheless Have Intentional States. Only Someone In The Grip Of A Philosophical Theory Would Deny That Small Babies Can Literally Be Said To Want Milk And That Dogs Want To Be Let Out Or Believe That Their Master Is At The Door.

Darwin's Greatest Achievement Was To Show That The Appearance Of Purpose, Planning, Teleology (design), And Intentionality In The Origin And Development Of Human And Animal Species Was Entirely An Illusion. The Illusion Could Be Explained By Evolutionary Processes That Contained No Such Purpose At All. But The Spread Of Ideas Through Imitation Required The Whole Apparatus Of Human Consciousness And Intentionality

Where Questions Of Style And Exposition Are Concerned I Try To Follow A Simple Maxim: If You Can't Say It Clearly You Don't Understand It Yourself.

There Is No Success Or Failure In Nature.