"
[46] In his _Natuerlische Schoepfungsgeschichte_, Haeckel is still more
exclusive. When he comes to answer the objections to the evolution, or,
as he commonly calls it, the descendence theory, he dismisses the
objections derived from religion, as unworthy of notice, with the remark
that all Glaube ist Aberglaube; all faith is superstition. The
objections from _a priori_, or intuitive truths, are disposed of in an
equally summary manner, by denying that there are any such truths, and
asserting that all our knowledge is from the senses. The objection that
so many distinguished naturalists reject the theory, he considers more
at length. First, many have grown old in another way of thinking and
cannot be expected to change. Second, many are collectors of facts,
without studying their relations, or are destitute of the genius for
generalization. No amount of material makes a building. Others, again,
are specialists. It is not enough that a man should be versed in one
department; he must be at home in all: in Botany, Zooelogy, Comparative
Anatomy, Biology, Geology, and Palaeontology. He must be able to survey
the whole field. Fourthly, and mainly, naturalists are generally
lamentably deficient in philosophical culture and in a philosophical
spirit. "The immovable edifice of the true, monistic science, or what is
the same thing, natural science, can only arise through the most
intimate interaction and mutual interpenetration of philosophy and
observation (Philosophie und Empirie).
Pages:
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161