Ethics and Moral Philosophy A thought 26 Jun 2010 Things and actions are what they are, and consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived? [Bishop Joseph Butler, Fifteen Sermons, Sermon VII, §16.] Continue Reading
Evolution Evolution quotes: Darwin on randomness 25 Jun 2010 Some authors have declared that natural selection explains nothing, unless the precise cause of each slight individual difference be made clear. Now, if it were explained to a savage utterly ignorant of the art of building, how the edifice had been raised stone upon stone, and why wedge-formed fragments were… Continue Reading
Metaphysics Evolution Quotes: Feyman on religion and science 15 Jun 2010 I do not believe that science can disprove the existence of God; I think that is impossible. And if it is impossible, is not a belief in science and in a God – an ordinary God of religion — a consistent possibility? Yes, it is consistent. Despite the fact that… Continue Reading
Evolution Evolution quotes 12 Jun 2010 Evolution and phylogeny.—Evolution is the process and phylogeny the record of descent. Phylogeny is thus the measure of relationship, and is to be expressed in terms of community of ancestry; hence, if relationship is to express evolution adequately, it must take account of each change, from the branch to the… Continue Reading
Evolution Prichard on species 9 Jun 2010 Here’s a nice and interesting discussion on how species was seen well before Darwin, which is effectively a “biological”, that is to say, reproductive isolation species conception. It’s by James Prichard, an anthropologist, and published in the second edition of Prichard, James Cowles (1845), The natural history of man; Comprising… Continue Reading
Evolution Evolution quotes 9 Jun 2010 For although there seems to be so great a difference between widely separate nations, that you might easily take the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, the Greenlanders, and the Circassians for so many different species of man, yet when the matter is thoroughly considered, you see that all… Continue Reading
Quotes Evolution quotes 3 Jun 2010 It does me good to do difficult things. It does not prevent me from having a terrible need of, shall I say the word – of religion – then I go outside in the night to paint the stars and I dream ever of a picture like this with a… Continue Reading
Evolution 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… Continue Reading
Evolution Evolution quotes 6 May 2010 But is it not possible to apply a test whereby a true species may be known from a mere variety? Is there no criterion of species? Great authorities affirm that there is—that the unions of members of the same species are always fertile, while those of distinct species are either… Continue Reading
Evolution 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… Continue Reading