What Thomas Henry Huxley thinks about evolutionary biology

@thomas-henry-huxley · 17 positions · On ppll ↗

English biologist and advocate of Darwin's theory (1825 to 1895); author of Evolution and Ethics.

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Only Thomas Henry Huxley on evolutionary biology. See everyone on evolutionary biology

7 dated positions, c. 1893–1894, in their own words. Our reading of what Thomas Henry Huxley has said — not written or endorsed by them.

c. 1893–1894

Our readingThe idea that ethical nature, though born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with it is a fundamental truth

Their wordsAll I have endeavoured to do, at present, is to remove that which seems to have proved a stumbling-block to many—namely, the apparent paradox that ethical nature, while born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with its parent. Unless the arguments set forth in the Prolegomena, in the simplest language at my command, have some flaw which I am unable to discern, this seeming paradox is a truth, as great as it is plain, the recognition of which is fundamental for the ethical philosopher.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingLaw and morals oppose the cosmic process and tend to suppress the traits that win the struggle for existence

Their wordsBut it is none the less true that, since law and morals are restraints upon the struggle for existence between men in society, the ethical process is in opposition to the principle of the cosmic process, and tends to the suppression of the qualities best fitted for success in that struggle.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingAs civilization grows, the qualities that helped humans win the struggle for existence become defects

Their wordsBut, in proportion as men have passed from anarchy to social organization, and in proportion as civilization has grown in worth, these deeply ingrained serviceable qualities have become defects.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingEvolution may explain good and evil tendencies but gives no better reason to prefer good

Their wordsThe thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and the evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingIt is a fallacy that people in society must look to the struggle for existence for progress, as plants and animals did

Their wordsThere is another fallacy which appears to me to pervade the so-called "ethics of evolution." It is the notion that because, on the whole, animals and plants have advanced in perfection of organization by means of the struggle for existence and the consequent "survival of the fittest;" therefore men in society, men as ethical beings, must look to the same process to help them towards perfection.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingSocial progress means checking the cosmic process at every step and replacing it with an ethical one

Their wordsSocial progress means a checking of the cosmic, process at every step and the substitution for it of another, which may be called the ethical process; the end of which is not the survival of those who may happen to be the fittest, in respect of the whole of the conditions which obtain, but of those who are ethically the best.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
c. 1893–1894

Our readingEthical conduct aims to fit as many as possible to survive, not at the survival of the fittest

Their wordsIn place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence.

↗Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book