Library Islam Philosophy of Islam chapter 11 - Man and Evolution Scientific presumption, not incontrovertible principle
Scientific presumption, not incontrovertible principle
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Scientific presumption, not incontrovertible principle
Anyhow, it would be fair to say that the conclusions at which we have arrived are no more than a scientific guess corroborated by some evidence. They cannot be regarded as decisive and final, for if an unbiased investigator looks carefully at the history of the origin of machinery, he will find that the development of various machines is not incongruous with the four conclusions mentioned above, though the origin of the machines was not on the basis of transformism in its modern sense, and the various kinds of machines have not been born of one another.
In fact the scientific study of the origin of machinery also leads to the following conclusions:
(1) The machines in accordance with their evolution have historical succession, for the more developed ones appeared after the less developed.
(2) This historical succession is akin to the origination of all other things of the cosmos.
(3) There is complete organic resemblance between the first machine and the most developed machine.
(4) The stages of the manufacture of the latest developed machine on the whole resemble those of the development of other machines, though in a compressed form.
In spite of all these four points, everybody knows that the origination. of the more developed machines in the wake of the simple ones has not come about on the basis of transformism. In other words the more developed machines are not the progeny of the more simple ones.
The evolution of the machines is the result of man's initiative, his efficiency and the evolution of his thinking. It is the outcome of the experience he has gained. But the machines of superior kind are not born of those that existed before them.
It is true that in the case of machines basically it is not possible that a more developed one is born of a simpler one, but in the case of living beings such a possibility does exist. But this possibility can only support a scientific guess. It is no proof that such a thing has actually happened, for mere possibility of a thing is not a proof of its actual occurrence.
We come across some other cases of evolution, in which the historical succession of their stages is related to the evolution of the thinking of the maker, and is the result of the gradual increase in an already existing ability.
An example of such an evolution is the gradual attainment of knowledge from childhood to later years.
In contrast, the evolution of the power of learning a foreign language is connected with the development of the capability of him who learns it, and not with that of the person who teaches him.
