Stephen Jay Gould and others have argued that the evolution of aself-conscious, intelligent species (i.e., humans) was historicallycontingent, or it would not have occurred had any of a great manyhistorical events been different. The philosopher Daniel Dennettand others have disagreed, arguing that convergent evolution is socommon that if humans had not evolved, some other lineage wouldprobably have given rise to a species with similar mentalabilities. Based on what you have learned concerning EvolutionaryTheory, which of these ideas do you think are correct – and why? IfGould’s position is right, what philosophical implications does hisreasoning suggest – and why?
