Evolution quotes 28 Apr 2010 We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universe of man to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act, provided with its instincts its place in nature, its range, its — &c &c: — must be a special act, or result of laws, yet we placidly believe the Astronomer, when he tells us satellites &c &c The Savage admires not a steam engine, but a piece of coloured glass & admires is lost in astonishment at the artificer. — Our faculties are more fitted to recognize the wonderful structure of a beetle than a Universe. [Charles Darwin, Notebook N, p36, 1838-9] Evolution Quotes EvolutionQuotes
Epistemology Classic quotes: Hume 30 Sep 2010 You propose then, Philo, said Cleanthes, to erect religious faith on philosophical scepticism; and you think, that if certainty or evidence be expelled from every other subject of enquiry, it will all retire to these theological doctrines, and there acquire a superior force and authority. Whether your scepticism be as… Read More
Evolution “Species” in the Stanford Encyclopedia updated 13 Jun 200724 Nov 2022 Marc Ereshfsky’s entry on “Species” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has been updated, though not to remove the classic “Essentialism Story” that has been called into question by a number of scholars lately. Under the fold, I will quote Marc’s comments and critique them. [I can do this because… Read More
Evolution Liveblogging the conference: Mishler 14 Mar 2008 Brent Mishler is a very nice guy who is wrong on a few things – Phylocode, species, and so on – but he’s absolutely right about barcoding. He’s talking today about so-called DNA barcoding and species concepts. Read More
It interests me that creationists stay interested in the structure of individual living things, while ignoring all of the discoveries of the structures of relationships among living things: ecology, biogeography, taxonomy, and so on. Has anybody ever appealed to the “design” of the fossil record as evidence of a “designer”? Or the “design” of homologies?
The beetle was subject to an act of divine retribution that changed it’s anatomy as a result of it’s low moral’s. A special act that took away it’s eyes and left it blind. It gave away Jesus’s location to Roman troops shortly before the crucifixtion and from that day and for evermore until the end of Eternity it is blind and “has no eyes of any description. That wis his punishment fir tellin on Jesus.”
That story is the product of a classicaly educated mind rather than a savage one I think; the intent is in maintianing control and shaping narrative and the structure of society in a particular path rather than due to some burning interest in the structure of individual living things.