Michael Polanyi criticized the neo-Darwinian synthesis on two grounds: that accidental hereditary changes bringing adaptive advantages cannot account for the rise of discontinuous new species, and that a teleological ordering principle is needed to explain evolutionary advance. I commend the previous articles by John Apczynski and Richard Gelwick and also argue, more strongly than they, that Polanyi's critique of evolutionary theory is flawed. It relies on an inappropriate notion of progress and untenable analogies from the human process of scientific discovery and the fact that in physical systems minimal potential energy is most stable. Yet within a life of commitment to transcendent values humans can directly experience purpose and meaning, and in developing this notion Polanyi makes his greatest contribution to teleology.
“To reflect upon the integrity of the land apart from human use would require an abstract quality of thought not characteristic of the biblical worldview. In sum, nature in the Bible is generally either regarded as a resource, or it fades into the background while, in the foreground, the significant drama of history is played out. In order to explore how the Bible might serve as a normative source for an ecological spirituality, an alternative must be found to focusing directly on how nature is portrayed in biblical passages. A promising direction is to reflect upon some of the qualities of an ecological consciousness or an ecological spirituality and then to see to what extent the Bible supports these qualities.”
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