Evolution

Species are eternal natural kinds, each defined by the form it transmits in generation; nature makes nothing in vain.

God created all things simultaneously, implanting seminal reasons that unfold in time; the forms of life were present from the beginning, even if they appeared gradually.

Species are fixed because each is defined by its substantial form, which cannot gradually shade into another; creation is complete.

Careful natural histories, not inherited classifications, are the foundation of genuine knowledge about living things.

Our species classifications are nominal, not real; nature produces individuals, and the boundaries we draw between kinds are convenient abstractions.

We must judge organisms as if they were designed for purposes, but this teleological judgment is a regulative principle of inquiry, not a constitutive claim about nature.

Nature exhibits a hierarchy of forms that expresses the logical development of the Idea, but this development is conceptual, not temporal; nature does not evolve.

Species are not fixed; they originate through natural selection acting on heritable variation over vast stretches of time.

Mind is an organ shaped by evolution; consciousness exists because it helps organisms navigate a world too complex for reflex alone.