Life and Matter: A Criticism of Professor Haeckel's "Riddle of the Universe"Lodge, Oliver, Sir
Religion
Life and Matter: A Criticism of Professor Haeckel's "Riddle of the Universe"
Lodge, Oliver, Sir
Haeckel, Ernst, 1834-1919. Welträthsel; Life -- Origin; Monism; Philosophy and religion
Matter possesses energy, in the form of persistent motion, and it is
propelled by force; but neither matter nor energy possesses the power
of automatic guidance and control. Energy has no directing power (this
has been elaborated by Croll and others: see, for instance, p. 24, and
a letter in _Nature_, vol. 43, p. 434, thirteen years ago, under the
heading "Force and Determinism"). Inorganic matter is impelled solely
by pressure from behind, it is not influenced by the future, nor does
it follow a preconceived course nor seek a predetermined end.
An organism animated by mind is in a totally different case. The
intangible influences of hunger, of a call, of perception of something
ahead, are then the dominant feature. An intelligent animal which is
being pushed is in an ignominious position and resents it; when led, or
when voluntarily obeying a call, it is in its rightful attitude.
The essence of mind is design and purpose. There are some who deny that
there is any design or purpose in the universe at all: but how can that
be maintained when humanity itself possesses these attributes? (_cf._
pp. 54, 74). Is it not more reasonable to say that just as we are
conscious of the power of guidance in ourselves, so guidance and
intelligent control may be an element running through the universe, and
may be incorporated even in material things?
A traveller who has lost his way in a mountain district, coming across
a path, may rejoice, saying, "This will guide me home." A materialist,
if he were consistent, should laugh such a traveller to scorn, saying,
"What guidance or purpose can there be in a material object? there is
no guidance or purpose in the universe; things _are_ because they
cannot be otherwise, not because of any intention underlying them. How
can a path, which is little better than the absence of grass or the
wearing down of stones, know where you live or guide you to any desired
destination? Moreover, whatever knowledge or purpose the path exhibits
must be _in the path_, must be a property of the atoms of which it is
composed. To them some fraction of will, of power, of knowledge, and
of feeling _may_ perhaps be attributed, and from their aggregation
something of the same kind may perhaps be deduced. If the traveller can
decipher that, he may utilise the material object to his advantage; but
if he conceives the path to have been made with any teleological object
or intelligent purpose, he is abandoning himself to superstition, and
is as likely to be led by it to the edge of a precipice as to anywhere
else. Let him follow his superstition at his peril!"
This is not a quotation, of course: but it is a parable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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