Donal: Putting nothing on the table is to me evidence of lack of understanding of what is at stake.
Now I see where we are writing past each other. To me "footing" is the pedestal-ization of a particular theory that has the effect of closing the mind; to you, "footing" seems to refer to a starting point in examining the world. If I understand your use of footing, then I agree with you.
Donal: ... insofar as evolution might be corroborated by the fossil record etc. it is possible to believe in such evolution in a non-Darwinian way (Lamarck), so such corroboration would not amount to an empirical demonstration of Darwinism.
If by "Darwinism," you mean natural selection -- and what could be more golden-codgerish than to call it "Darwinism"? -- there is some evidence of natural selection, but, to my knowledge, no encompassing argument showing that it is the sole, or could be the sole, agency of evolution. Dawkins and Monod are considered fringe thinkers now.
Donal: Nor does this point come anywhere near showing that Einstein did not put physics on a better "footing", and so again seems beside the point.
Glad you didn't call it "Einsteinianism." That would have been too much to bear. Einstein may have put physics on a better footing, in your sense, but he also maintained silly views, such as his early rejection of quantum physics. Better to write about "the Standard Model" of physics than to nail one's footing to the floor with old Al's moniker. My objection is to the name-grabbing in an enterprise that is largely open-ended and constantly refining itself.
Donal: ... perhaps that it would appear that Darwin pre-empted Freud on the role of the unconscious and that Freud was influenced by Darwinism. Freud and Marx were both admirers of Darwin in ways that were not equally reciprocated, and might even have agreed with the gist of the thread subject qua suggestion.
Just as well to say that the writers of the Upanishads pre-empted Emerson who pre-empted Nietzsche who pre-empted Freud on the role of the unconscious. Freud admired Nietzsche who admired Emerson who admired the new translation of the Upanishads that had arrived in the Concord Library. Does this last alternative make my objection any clearer?
------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html