Re the two meanings of the word 'Why'


[ Follow Ups ]


Posted by David Thaler on November 02, 1999 at 18:57:37:

In Reply to: Richard J Angel's 25 Oct 99 message re The Program Is Stochastically Developing Order Out of Chaos posted by Dov on November 01, 1999 at 15:13:30:

The two meanings of the word 'Why' I just learned are present in Hebrew are also used in the literature of Evolutionary Explanation where they are called the "Proximal" and the "Ultimate" explanations.
Proximal explanations in the lingo of evolutionary biology are molecular mechanisms; "Ultimate" mechansims are what forces of selection brought something about.
Evolutionary types often emphasize that a number of different proximal mechanisms might happen to be used in order to accomplish the same "Ultimate" mechanism.




Follow Ups: