Thomas Huxley
Aphorisms and Reflections (1907)"As a natural process, of the same character as the development of a tree from its seed, or of a fowl from its egg, evolution excludes creation and all other kinds of supernatural intervention." [This is quoted by Sean Carroll on p7 of his "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" with the appearance of agreement with Huxley in eliminating any idea of creation. Huxley may plausibly have inferred from his study that there is no apparent necessity for major "magic wand" events in the process of development, but his statement is much more global and absolute than his data warrant. The phrase "excludes creation and all other kinds" is clearly a personal philosophical statement that is not warranted by his data.] "The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the perennial miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most worth of admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from its embryo." "science warns me to be careful how I adopt a view which jumps with my preconceptions, and to require stronger evidence for such beliefs than for one to which I was previously hostile." [This is quoted by Sean Carroll on p46 of his "The Making of the Fittest" ]
|
Reading Reference | ||||
Reasonable Faith | Go Back |