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Late Post from Wednesday night...

I found it very interesting that Rolston describes all of this scientific information about Dragonflies and their wings, and describes how beautifully complex and specially engineered they are, but then goes on to make the point that a philosopher might say that Dragonflies themselves do not value their wings because they don’t have the brain capacity to put value on anything. I disagree with anyone who might say this. While Dragonflies may not look at their wings and consciously say “I value my wings” they have a high value to the insect, because Dragonflies would not be able to survive if their wings were torn off. I agree with Rolston when he says that it is disconcerting that humans can relate human values back to biology and not much else.

I found one question Rolston proposes very interesting. He asked “Could that [those wings] be of value to the species line?” The reason I found this interesting was because I feel like the people who say that Dragonflies don’t value their wings, would be the same people that say that their wings are of value to the species line. This means that the “species line” (something that does not live or breath in and of itself) can put a value on something; but the actual being itself cannot. I have a problem with that. I don’t believe that being able to consciously put a value on something is what constitutes whether it is “of value” or not. I have never (until right now) consciously said “I value my distal radioulnar joint in my arm” but there is definitely a value to its existence.

I asked someone in class onetime whether they believed that a tree falling in the woods still makes a sound if no one is there to hear it. I completely forget why I asked that question to that person in class, but it came up in a different way in Rolston’s piece. He said that “perhaps nothing is “astounding” until a human being comes around to be astounded.” I think that that is untrue because that item or being has the ability to astound (whether it does so or not,) so it is astounding by itself. As I read on, I discovered that Rolston actually agrees with me on this point, and actually acknowledges that his critics will roll their eyes at him saying so.