Let’s get a feel for these ideas with a couple of questions. The forms at the very beginning are so simple that it becomes easier to see them arising from nothing more than elementary physics and chemistry, as has been shown by experiments in which mixtures of chemical elements placed in primitive conditions produce the building blocks of life. The second is the idea that as we go backward in time, life-forms get simpler and simpler, with transitional forms bridging the gaps we see between modern species. The first is the notion that the categories we think of as fixed, such as species, are in fact fluid, slowly and imperceptibly evolving from one into another over the ages. From a philosophical perspective, Darwin’s solution has a couple of features that neatly melt the conceptual difficulties we have with infinite regress. In biology, the problem of infinite regress has been solved by Darwin’s theory of evolution, a feat so momentous that the philosopher Daniel Dennett has called it “ the single best idea anyone ever had.” Darwin’s theory of evolution explained the origins of biology as “descent with modification” that takes place by means of the ingenious principle of natural selection - Darwin adduced mountains of evidence for both the process and the mechanism. Some require serious thought or investigation, and others are more whimsical and subjective, but hopefully all will be illuminating. This month, we examine the conundrum with the help of some questions and puzzles. It’s also responsible for catchphrases that suggest impossibility, such as “It’s a chicken-and-egg problem” or the whimsical “It’s turtles all the way down!” In spite of it all, science has achieved considerable insight on this question of infinite regress. It’s responsible for philosophical terms like “ the prime or unmoved mover” or “the uncaused cause,” and for the postulation of innumerable gods and deities in religious circles. This expression is vicious as it does not explain “why nothing at all is falling”.When you consider the origin of life, the origin of the universe, or any other origin story, one question inevitably rears its ugly head: What caused the beginning? This apparent paradox has vexed humanity for millennia. In this expression though there is metaphysical possibility since space can be infinite but still it is vicious because this argument is supposed to explain why the earth is not falling but rather than explaining that it simply states that there is another thing which is not falling. The famous expression of infinite regress turtles all the way down states that how mythologically earth rests on the back of a turtle which rests on the back of another turtle and so on. the informal fallacy of “begging the question” where the premises assume the truth of the conclusion. The failure of a theory to explain a problem also leads to viciousness for eg. Other examples of this kind of viciousness involve human actions. Infinite regresses based on implausibility call for the denial of its actuality rather than possibility, for example, the argument of the existence of God suggests that God is the first cause. Such regress could be infinite magnitudes like infinite densities. Infinite regresses that have a metaphysical impossibility are the most common vicious regress since by following the assumption that “ actual infinities” are not possible the argument becomes contradictory.
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