“With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind...?”
I chuckled when I read it. Darwin here expressed his distrust of his own ability to accurately perceive and explain anything. Plantinga used it in his Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism. For me, though I fundamentally disagree with Darwin's theories and the theories of macro-evolution stemming from The Origin of Species, this reinforced one bit of philosophy I will hold on to forever: “do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 NASB).
Charles Darwin, in a letter to William Graham, c. 1881.
19 August 2006
A Quote of Interest
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1 comment:
Well, doubt is inherent in science anyway, so Darwin would have been rather arrogant if he absolutely believed in it, I think.
Incidently, I like the 'upcoming events' feature, because now I can figure out what's going on at my house ;)
- gary
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