Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition: EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Religion
Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition: Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Agnosticism; Miracles; Religion and science
I am told that I have been amusing myself with a "metaphysical
exercitation or logomachy" (may I remark incidentally that these are
not quite convertible terms?), when, to the best of my belief, I have
been trying to expose a process of mystification, based upon the use
of scientific language by writers who exhibit no sign of scientific
training, of accurate scientific knowledge, or of clear ideas
respecting the philosophy of science, which is doing very serious harm
to the public. Naturally enough, they take the lion's skin of
scientific phraseology for evidence that the voice which issues from
beneath it is the voice of science, and I desire to relieve them from
the consequences of their error.
The Duke of Argyll asks, apparently with sorrow that it should be his
duty to subject me to reproof--
What shall we say of a philosophy which confounds the
organic with the inorganic, and, refusing to take note of a
difference so profound, assumes to explain under one common
abstraction, the movements due to gravitation and the
movements due to the mind of man?
To which I may fitly reply by another question: What shall we say to a
controversialist who attributes to the subject of his attack opinions
which are notoriously not his; and expresses himself in such a manner
that it is obvious he is unacquainted with even the rudiments of that
knowledge which is necessary to the discussion into which he has
rushed?
What line of my writing can the Duke of Argyll produce which confounds
the organic with the inorganic?
As to the latter half of the paragraph, I have to confess a doubt
whether it has any definite meaning. But I imagine that the Duke is
alluding to my assertion that the law of gravitation is nowise
"suspended" or "defied" when a man lifts his arm; but that, under such
circumstances, part of the store of energy in the universe operates on
the arm at a mechanical advantage as against the operation of another
part. I was simple enough to think that no one who had as much
knowledge of physiology as is to be found in an elementary primer, or
who had ever heard of the greatest physical generalisation of modern
times--the doctrine of the conservation of energy--would dream of
doubting my statement; and I was further simple enough to think that
no one who lacked these qualifications would feel tempted to charge me
with error. It appears that my simplicity is greater than my powers of
imagination.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account