Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank especially Ralph Chapman, Kamran
Hakim, Mark Towfiq, Viktoria Sparks-Forrester and Gerhard Schweter
for their open discussions and valuable comments. The present essay
owes a lot to Keven Brown's contributions. He made many constructive
suggestions during the development of the essay, pointed my
attention to the concept of
substantial evolution, provided
the still unpublished retranslations of the cited passages of
Some Answered Questions and kindly retranslated
certain passages from
Promulgation of Universal Peace.
The discussions with Ron Somerby clarified important points in this
work.
An artist's view of the origin of life
© by Constanze von Kitzing 1997
Abstract
During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the
20th century, Darwinism was discussed in the Occident, the New World
and in the Orient. The public more populistic disputes were not very
much concerned with Darwinism as a biological theory, but with its
pretended and factual philosophical implications. What is the origin
of order of our universe and the well adapted forms of life in our
terrestrial biosphere? Is this order based on God's creation as
widely believed before Darwin? Or is it the result of a blind
mechanism, of the
ad hoc formation of increasingly complex
structures without purpose or goal, as claimed by many Darwinists
and neo-Darwinists? If the natural order has no higher purpose,
than social order would likewise be arbitrary, and the social
institutions such as the monarchies or democracies would be merely
human inventions!
A central concept which distinguishes Darwinism from most previously
accepted ideas is that the complex order in our universe is assumed
not to be the outcome of the design of a wise, caring Creator,
but it is understood as the result of a self-organizing universe.
`Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the prophet founder of the newly
developing Bahá'í Faith addressed the problem of
evolution. Talks in Palestine with visitors from the West were
recoded, as well as many speeches given by `Abdu'l-Bahá
during His visit in Europe and the United states. There He presents
evolution in the light of the Teachings of His father. He claims the
principle compatibility of evolution with the existence of a wise,
caring Creator. `Abdu'l-Bahá addresses the question of the
origin of complex biological order by presenting a meta-biological
species concept: the originality of species which occupies a
central place in `Abdu'l-Bahá's teachings about the origin
and evolution of the human species.
The existence of humanity is proposed to ground in non-trivial,
time invariant laws of nature, in timeless species essences, in the
reflection of the eternal names and attributes of God. Consequently,
the potential to form human beings exists from the very beginning of
our universe and is not created at some time point as suggested by
literal interpretations of the Old Testament, nor were the human
characteristics ad hoc self-created as for instance proposed
by Monod. `Abdu'l-Bahá combines two arguments supporting the
existence of a human species essence: the classical Platonic
idea of a harmonious and perfect universe and the modern
concept of the time invariance of the fundamental laws
of nature. Thus, `Abdu'l-Bahá assumes the principle
reproducibility of the results of nature. By means of these
arguments `Abdu'l-Bahá rebuts the self-creational concepts of
evolution held by "some European philosophers".
In classical as well as modern biology the concept of species
essences is generally equated with static and unchanging biological
populations and is considered to be incompatible with evolution. By
means of the analogy between embryonic ontogeny and human phylogeny
`Abdu'l-Bahá demonstrates, how timeless species essences can
account for evolution, for an essentially dynamic biosphere, and
how they are consistent with the concept of substantial
evolution. The concept of cause and effect relates
a substantially dynamic world to an essentialistic fundamental
reality. The complex, timeless reality, created by God's Command,
a mirror of His names and attributes, defines the "space" of
physically and biologically possible worlds. The eternal reality
unfolds it's potentials within time in a dynamic fashion. Evolution
and development is the central theme of the world of being. The kind
of essentialism proposed by `Abdu'l-Bahá, which applies to
the whole contingent world, does not imply a closed formal system
of accidental and necessary causes. To avoid the trap of the
infinite regression `Abdu'l-Bahá postulates a kind of
open cosmos where voluntary causes, particularly Divine Will,
plays a crucial role.
Whereas the origin of the diverse biological strata represents a
problem of mainly academic interest, the question of the origin
of our moral values and our social order is certainly of general
importance. If we believe in the unity of nature, that our universe
does not split up into several unrelated pieces of reality, than the
same fundamental driving forces should apply to the origin of our
universe, to the evolution of the well adapted, complex and diverse
terrestrial biosphere, to the development of the human society, and
its social order, and to our moral values as well. If the universe,
if biological evolution has no destiny, and if we believe in the
unity of nature, we should not expect a purpose for our lives.
Thus, the question of the origin of complex order in biology should
not only interest some specialized biologists, but due the the
far-reaching consequences of the answers of this question to our
life, it is a question of general concern. The concept of the
originality of species proposed by `Abdu'l-Bahá,
presents an answer to the far-reaching question where the assumption
of a purpose and destiny of our human life is shown to be compatible
with the facts of biology and palaeontology.