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Sorry about the delay- Haverford plenary.

I wanted to respond to something brought up in the new reading for tuesday...I've basically just started it so I don't know if the author is going to get around to answering one of the smaller questions he put out there, so I wanted to hazard an answer myself. He was talking about purpose, Aristotle's fourth "cause," the answer to the "why" (basically, about what we've been refering to as foundationalism), and whether or not their could be a purpose without it being someone's purpose. I feel like, even in Darwin, actually, we see that we can. The point is to survive, and while I'm not sure it's entirely philosophically sound then to say that survival is "good" thing, I think the implication is definitely embedded in Darwin. And, more to the point, continuing life is therefore a better thing- having offspring, babies, is being naturally supported. Do I think you can add to that with other beliefs? Sure, and for many people, myself included, there needs to be a little something more and there are ways to question, consider, and understand that (religion or spirituality being a common way.)

I suppose in general my "His Dark Materials" reading self can't see purpose and meaning as necessitating a God...Not after Mary Malone's revelation in the chapter "There is Now" when she discovers basically the opposite.