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Wright! this guy i didn't really get a lot out of, either. i'm pretty sure i was losing steam at this point.

the doctrine of final causes is indispensable to the theologian, and it is furnished by science. but wait, how can we distinguish means and ends from causes that can be effects and effects that are also causes? science can't disclose a final cause!

but, the relation of means to ends in itself implies intelligence without further qualification, right? designed effects are ascribed not to intelligence, but to the causes of intelligence. "design" is an independent determination by an efficient agent. somewhere there were two propositions for the proof of God:
1 intelligence stands first as the absolute order of existence (the final preceded efficient causes)
2 the universe is governed by moral cause.

for Wright, progress in science is progress in religious truth. if some part of religion is refuted by science, the conclusion to draw is not that science is irreligious, but that the refuted aspect of religion was merely superstition that needed to be disregarded.
the wisdom of the unfathomable is not hindered by science! science, in fact, defines the boundaries between what can be discovered and what cannot. humility, cautiousness and the suspension of judgment in matters about which we know so little are tenets of science that ought be adopted by religion. i think.

then, in "Evolution of Self Consciousness" he talks about.. the evolution of self consciousness! self consciousness is an advent of the natural! evolution! mental powers and bodily powers kind of pretty much have mixed natures, for instance the voice can call or allure, warn or repel, create music, language, etc. the trains and degrees of intelligence are composed of pretty much the same basic things: memory and attention. in human intelligence, we simply add abstraction to the mix. the more basic, primitive forms of cognition are found in animals. we can see this by comparing a command of language to a command of sounds. then there's something about all in relation to outward things in contrast with passive relations of sensation and passive perception.. something.. er.. well, basically the intellectual self consciousness is characterized by the added attribute of the ego. I!