Anthropic roots of human evolution
The anthropic beginnings which make man possible and condition his evolutionary future
Sophia-Iberia has selected six thematic areas in which to search for the anthropic roots of human evolution:
- Matter. Matter is the most germinal; it is the radical origin of everything we see. Perhaps it could be otherwise, but it responds to precise properties. In principle, and these are the initial expectations of science, life and man are potentially contained in germinal matter. What material properties generate the reality of the universe, life and man? What implications does all this have in order to understand psycho-bio-physical human nature?
- The universe. The universe is produced in an evolutionary manner as a result of interaction between matter. The anthropic properties of matter are seen in the universe when this takes on an anthropic configuration which can host man. However, what does the form of the universe state regarding emergent life and the future human reality? In what sense does the universe generate and configure the emergence of the reality of man?
- Life. The phenomenon of life is an intermediate emergence between matter/universe and man. Life prefigures the states which indicate the appearance of man. According to the expectations of science, evolution and the configuration of human nature are the immediate result of the anthropic properties of life. What are these anthropic properties of life then?
- Man-Neurology. Human evolution appears as already configured when life produces the genesis of the human nervous system. The human mind is an evolutionary outcome evolved from the nature of matter/universe/life which is present in the previous evolutionary process. However, reason is the most outstanding factor in the human mind. What is reason then and how will it determine the future evolution of the human species?
- Formal sciences. The capacity for abstraction and formalisation, which was first manifest in the history of mathematics, perhaps represents the most important product of the human mind. Formalisations are the great instrument created by the mind in order to know the real world and to imagine possible worlds. The mind has created artificial existence which operates the formal systems created by itself. How is the mind related to its formalisations, from an ontological and formal point of view? How is the human mind extended, functionally and ontologically, through its formalisations? Will the human future depend on the mental capacity to formalise?
- Metaphysics, Philosophy, Theology. The design of the reflection in Sophia-Iberia is finally projected towards metaphysics, philosophy and theology. According to the scientific and philosophical image of human evolution in the universe, what type of metaphysics can be put forward by philosophy? What type of theology, whether Christian or non-Christian, is possible in accordance with scientific evidence? This theme is neutral and can be reflected upon in a variety of ways, from agnostic or atheistic positions or from within the many varieties of theism. The basic question as regards this theme is the clear anthropic sense: does theology open up horizons of a future evolution understood from the theist point of view for the human species? Are there anthropic signs in the theological reflection of humanity?
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