Sublime

(1) persons are not thesum of components; they must be understood holistically; (2) they can only beunderstood within the unique context of human life, which is not the same as otheraspects of the natural environment; (3) humans are self-aware and have a sense ofwho they are vis-à-vis other people; (4) humans make choices; and (5) humanbeings aim t

apparent cosmic finality, from the big bang onwards, is due to a series of teleomatic processes (with the addition of stochastic perturbations). The birth of biosphere is non-deducible from these principles.

There have been five mass extinctions during which at least 50% of the known species on the planet have died. Though we are not clear on all the contributing factors, each of these extinctions were driven in part by a fundamental change in the Earth’s climate. Most recent was the End Cretaceous extinction, 66 million years ago, when either an aster

in the grand scheme of things, artificial selection was just tinkering at the margins. It was natural selection—indifferent, but infinitely patient—that had given rise to life’s astonishing diversity. In the final, oft-quoted paragraph of On the Origin of Species, Darwin conjures an “entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with bird

The Bay’s current fulfilled feminist Camille Paglia’s lament: “Human beings are not nature’s favorites. We are merely one of a multitude of species upon which nature indiscriminately exerts its force.”