Evolution quotes 31 May 2010 Evolution itself, it must be remembered, does not necessarily mean, applied to society, the movement of man to a desirable goal. It is a neutral, scientific conception, compatible either with optimism or with pessimism. According to different estimates it may appear to be a cruel sentence or a guarantee of steady amelioration. And it has been actually interpreted in both ways. In order to base Progress on Evolution two distinct arguments are required. If it could be shown that social life obeys the same general laws of evolution as nature, and also that the process involves an increase of happiness, then Progress would be as valid a hypothesis as the evolution of living forms. … In fact, upon the neutral fact of evolution a theory of pessimism may be built up as speciously as a theory of optimism. [John Bagnell Bury, The idea of progress; an inquiry into its origin and growth, 1920] Evolution History Philosophy Quotes Social evolution EvolutionHistoryPhilosophyQuotes
Biology Did Popper and Quine invent “Aristotelian essentialism”? 7 Feb 201221 Jun 2018 There are many narratives told about evolution. One of the most widely told is the Essentialism Story, replayed in textbook, popular storytelling and philosophy alike. It goes like this: Before Darwin, biologists were constrained by essentialist thinking, in which they were committed to species being natural kinds where there were… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Asia’s empty forests 1 Sep 2008 The Annotated Budak has an absolutely wonderful post on megafauna, hominid impacts, biodiversity and biogeography up. Go read it immediately. Read More
History It’s official – Wittgenstein wins in a landslide 11 Mar 2009 Leiter’s poll has Wittgenstein beating Frege. I’m disappointed that Peirce didn’t get a higher ranking, and astonished the Nietzsche did. Read More
Reminiscent of T.H. Huxley’s famous line: “Let us understand, once and for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it.”