The Philosophy of Evolution: Together With a Preliminary Essay on The Metaphysical Basis of ScienceCarpenter, Stephen H. (Stephen Haskins)
Religion
The Philosophy of Evolution: Together With a Preliminary Essay on The Metaphysical Basis of Science
Carpenter, Stephen H. (Stephen Haskins)
Evolution; Science
This process has been determined from the very outset by those
intellectual laws which we cannot disobey, and which we cannot conceive
disobeyed by an intelligent creator. If the law of intellectual action
require this process from the simple to the complex, the concrete
representation of the steps of this process must indicate the operation
of this law, and must also proceed from the simple and rudimentary to
the complex and highly developed. An intelligent Creator in revealing
his thought must follow the method which our minds must follow in
interpreting this revelation. When we know and seek to communicate our
knowledge, we proceed from the general to the specific.[2] The Creator
assumed to be infinite in knowledge would therefore follow this process
instead of the method peculiar to investigation. The law of intellectual
action determines this method, and the conditions of intellectual
communication determine the representation of this method in the
material expression of the ideas communicated. Considering the operation
of this law under these conditions, we find that the thought
communicating only, as nearly as may be, the generic idea, will be
distinguished from it by the addition of but a single attribute as the
generic by itself is incapable of being represented in concrete form,
the expression of this thought in form will present us matter
distinguished from matter in general by but a single attribute. The
least possible individualizing attribute added to the highest possible
generalization gives us the simplest expression of an idea, and the form
or the organism symbolizing this thought will be the simplest form and
the simplest organism possible. For instance: in organic life the
highest generalization barely individualized will give us the simple
cell; and no matter what degree of complexity we subsequently reach by
the addition of an almost infinite number of attributes, we nevertheless
begin in every case with the same starting point.
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