Q&A: Taylor
Taylor
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Regarding your proof from Taylor, couldn’t one say that the world I do in fact see, I see precisely because of my eyes, so that by definition there will be a fit between the two? In other words, my seeing the world is a result of the evolutionary development of my eyes, and therefore of course I can rely on what I see, because there is a definitional fit between the two.
That is, I don’t rely on evolution as having created an absolute correspondence between how I see the world and how it really is, because there is truly no guarantee of that if evolution’s goal is survival. Rather, I rely on evolution in the sense that the form of the world that I see thanks to the eyes I have—that form is what is conducive to my survival. In other words, the world I am in any case forced to deal with in order to survive is the world my eyes reflect to me, and not a world to which I need to “adapt.”
Thank you
Answer
I addressed this. The question is whether you really are not assuming that the eyes reflect reality correctly, but only present you with a picture that is useful for your survival. If so, then indeed the theological proof is not directed at you. See the detailed discussion in the fourth notebook, in the first and second parts.