would it follow that

[GoodTaste]

What does "it" in the phrase "would it follow that" refer to? Do "it" refer to "life"? What does it "follow"? The phrase appears elusive to me and I don't know how to properly understand it.

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Richard Dawkins
@RichardDawkins
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7h
The essential component of life anywhere is replicators: something like DNA. If (which I don’t believe) we are alone in the universe, would it follow that the origin of life on Earth was an event so statistically improbable that we are wasting our time trying to understand it?

 

[GoesStation]

"It" is a dummy pronoun in this sentence. It asks whether our being alone in the universe would mean that the origin of life on Earth was an event like he describes.

 

[Phaedrus]

What does it "follow"?

The dummy "it" anticipates and stands in for the "that"-clause ("that the origin of life on Earth was an event . . ."), which is the semantic subject of "follow."

"It" isn't following anything. "It" refers to the "that"-clause. The sentence questions whether the "that"-clause proposition follows (from) another proposition.

Let there be two propositions, X and Y. If Y follows from X, Y can be lawfully inferred from X. Y will come after (follow) X in a logical sequence.

This usage of "follow" is common in philosophical writing. See English translations of Plato's dialogues for hundreds of examples. A non-philosophical example:

Today is December 31, 2020. It follows (from the fact that today is December 31, 2020) that tomorrow is New Year's Day, the first day of 2021.