Stephen E. Jones

Creation/Evolution Quotes: Classified quotes: Philosophy

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The following are previously unclassified quotes about Philosophy, now classified under that heading, and under subheadings alphabetically by author and date, as a temporary intermediate step towards integrating them into my quotes pages proper.

Philosophy

1. Materialism
• "The writer is not naive enough to think that this discussion will convince any materialist"

"The writer is not naive enough to think that this discussion will convince any materialist. People who have a faith cannot be convinced by mere words and logic. Men with an irrational faith - and we hope that we have made it clear that such is their case do not yield to rational arguments because words do not have the same meaning for us and for them. we talk about moral and spiritual values to which we attribute a greater reality with respect to man than to the electron, while they do not even admit the existence of such values and firmly believe in a material world which we consider only as a pretext. ... Our aim in discussing the mechanistic attitude toward evolution and liberty, or free will, was to show that the materialist, who boasts about his strict and scientific rationalism, is not infallible in his own trade. He is not likely of course to advertise his errors or his conflicts but it must be known that he is no longer qualified to claim strict rational thinking and scientific facts as the basic foundation of his creed." (du Nouy L., "Human Destiny," Longmans, Green & Co: New York NY, 1947, Seventeenth Printing, p.51)

• "... the various materialist philosophies have tended to [turn] ... materialism into naturalism ..."

"materialism. Basically the view that everything is made of matter. ... All this, however, has had remarkably little overt effect on the various philosophical views that can be dubbed 'materialism', though one might think it shows at least that materialism is not the simple no- nonsense, tough-minded alternative it might once have seemed to be. What actually seems to have happened is that the various materialist philosophies have tended to substitute for `matter' some notion like 'whatever it is that can be studied by the methods of natural science', thus turning materialism into naturalism, though it would be an exaggeration to say the two outlooks have simply coincided." (Lacey, Alan [Philosophy Department, King's College, London], in Honderich T., ed., "The Oxford Companion to Philosophy," Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1995, p.530)

• "... it must be plain even to the most devoted materialist that ... matter ... may ... be ... `but one mask of many worn by the Great Face behind.' ..."

"I do not think, if someone finally twists the key successfully in the tiniest and most humble house of life that many of these questions will be answered, or that the dark forces which create lights in the deep sea and living batteries in the waters of tropical swamps, or the dread cycles of parasites, or the most noble workings of the human brain, will be much if at all revealed. Rather, I would say that if `dead' matter has reared up this curious landscape of fiddling crickets, song sparrows, and wondering men, it must be plain even to the most devoted materialist that the matter of which he speaks contains amazing, if not dreadful powers, and may not impossibly be, as Hardy has suggested, `but one mask of many worn by the Great Face behind.'" (Eiseley, Loren C. [Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania], "The Secret of Life," in "The Immense Journey," [1946], Vintage: New York NY, 1957, reprint, p.210)

2. Metaphysics
• "... the practical `hard-headed' individual ... generally has a very dangerous kind of metaphysics, i.e., the kind of which he is unaware ..."

"As David Bohm has written: `It seems clear that everybody has got some kind of metaphysics, even if he thinks he hasn't got any. Indeed, the practical "hard-headed" individual who "only goes by what he sees" generally has a very dangerous kind of metaphysics, i.e., the kind of which he is unaware.... Such metaphysics is dangerous because, in it, assumptions and inferences are being mistaken for directly observed facts, with the result that they are effectively riveted in an almost unchangeable way into the structure of thought.' Bohm then adds some practical advice: `One of the best ways of a person becoming aware of his own tacit metaphysical assumptions is to be confronted by several other kinds. His first reaction is often of violent disturbance, as views that are very dear are questioned or thrown to the ground. Nevertheless, if he will "stay with it," rather than escape into anger and unjustified rejection of contrary ideas, he will discover that this disturbance is very beneficial. For now he becomes aware of the assumptive character of a great many previously unquestioned features of his own thinking.'" (Bohm, David [Professor of Physics, Birkbeck College, London]., "Some Remarks on the Notion of Order", in Waddington C.H., ed., "Towards a Theoretical Biology: Edinburgh University Press", 2, 1969, pp.41,42, in Thaxton C.B., Bradley W.L. & Olsen R.L.*, "The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories," [1984], Lewis & Stanley: Dallas TX, 1992, Second Printing, pp.207-208)

3. Naturalism
• "Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic

"Most important, it should be made clear in the classroom that science, including evolution, has not disproved God's existence because it cannot be allowed to consider it (presumably). Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic. Of course the scientist, as an individual, is free to embrace a reality that transcends naturalism." (Todd, Scott C. [Department of Biology, Kansas State University, USA], "A view from Kansas on that evolution debate," Nature, Vol. 401, 30 September 1999, p.423)

4. Uniformitarianism
• "For a century and a half the geological world has been dominated, one might even say brain-washed, by the gradualistic uniformitarianism of Charles Lyell

"Just as politicians rewrite human history, so geologists rewrite earth history. For a century and a half the geological world has been dominated, one might even say brain-washed, by the gradualistic uniformitarianism of Charles Lyell. Any suggestion of 'catastrophic' events has been rejected as old-fashioned, unscientific and even laughable. ... My thesis is that in all branches of geology there has been a return the ideas of rare violent happenings and episodicity. So the past, as now interpreted by many geologists, is not what it used to be. It has certainly changed a great deal from what I learned about it in those far-off day when I was a student." (Ager D.V., "The New Catastrophism: The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History," Cambridge University Press: Cambridge UK, 1993, pp.xi-xii)

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