Naturalism And Religion Part 17

1 This has been urged often enough even by scientific investigators.

In such cases they have frequently been reproached for dragging miracles into nature when they call a halt in face of the "underivable" and the "mysterious." This is a complete misunderstanding. With miracles and with the supernatural in the historical sense of these words, this mode of regarding nature has nothing whatever to do. It would be much more reasonable to maintain the converse: that there exists between supernatural ideas and the belief in the absolute explicability and rationalisation of nature a peculiar mutual relation and attraction. For, if we think out the relation clearly, we must see that all real and consistent belief in miracles demands as its most effective background the clearest possible explicability of nature. It pictures to itself two natures, so to speak: nature and supernature, and the latter of these interpolates itself into the former in the form of sudden and occasional interruptions; that is to say, as miracles. The purpose of miracles is to be recognised as such, as events absolutely different from the ordinary course of happening. And they are most likely thus to be recognised when nature itself is translucent and mathematical. Thus we find that supernaturalism quite readily accepts, and even insists upon a rationalistic explanation of nature. But this is quite incorrect. Nature is not so thoroughly rationalised and calculable as such a point of view would have us believe.

The really religious element in belief in miracles is that it, too, in its own way, is seeking after mystery, dependence and providence.

It fails because it navely seeks for these in isolated and exceptional acts, which have no a.n.a.logy to other phenomena. It regards these as arbitrary acts, and does so because it overlooks or underestimates the fact that they have to be reckoned with throughout the whole of nature.

2 Not even after the scholastic manner of regarding eternity as a "nunc stans," a stationary now, an everlasting present. "Present" is a moment in our own time, and an "everlasting" present is nonsense.

3 "Reden uber die Religion, an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verachtern."

Neu herausgegeben von R. Otto. 1906.

4 Kgl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1876.

5 Some of these subsidiary factors are difficult to harmonise with the main principle of selection; they endanger it or it endangers them, as we shall see when we consider the controversies within the Darwinian camp.

6 H. Friedmann, "Die Konvergenz der Organismen," Berlin, 1904.

7 It is somewhat confusing that even Weismann in his most recent work professes to give "Lectures on the Theory of Descent," and in reality only a.s.sumes it, concerning himself with the Darwinian theory in the strict sense. The English translation is more correctly ent.i.tled "The Evolution Theory."

_ 8 Cf._ Wagner, "Zur gegenwartigen Lage des Darwinismus." "Die Umschau," January, 1900.

9 Eugen Dubois (Military Surgeon of the Dutch Army), "Pithecanthropus erectus, a man-like transition-form from Java." Batavia. 1904.

10 H. Friedenthal. "Ueber einen experimentellen Nachweis von Blutsverwandtschaft." Archiv. f. Anatomie und Physiologie, 1900, p.

404.

11 Jena, 1904. Trans. "The Evolution Theory," Arnold. London 1904.

12 A defence of this very confident Darwinian point of view, for the benefit of non-scientific readers, will be found in the recent "Gemeinverstandlichen darwinistischen Vortragen und Abhandlungen,"

by Plate, Simroth, Schmidt, and others. See also Ziegler's "Ueber den derzcitigen Stand der Descendenzlehre in der Zoologie."

13 "Ra.s.senbildung und Erblichkeit," Festschrift fur Bastian, p. 9.

14 "Ra.s.senbildung und Erblichkeit," Festschrift fur Bastian, p. 6.

15 "Sammlung gemeinverstandl. Vortrage, hrsg. v. Virchow und Holtzendorf," Heft 96. "Menschen und Affenschadel," Berlin, 1870.

16 "Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie," 1882, p. 276.

17 "Verh. Berlin anthropolog. Gesellschaft iv." (1872), p. 132. It does, however, appear strange to the lay mind that it should have been only the pathological subjects of prehistoric times that had their remains preserved for our modern study.

_ 18 Cf._ "Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie," 1895, pp. 78, 735.

_ 19 Cf._ "Ra.s.senbildung und Erblichkeit." Festschrift fur Bastian, 1895.

20 See also "Descendenz und Pathologie." Arch. f. path. Anat. a.

Physiol., 1886; "Transformation und Abstammung." Berliner Klin.

Wochenschrift, 1893.

21 First edition, Leipzig, 1887. A second edition and an English translation have since been published. See especially the discussion of the origin and history of species in the second volume.

22 See English translation of Kerner's Plant Life.

_ 23 Cf._ a criticism of the book from the Darwinian point of view by Plate in Biologisches Centralblatt, 1901.

24 That this points only to the fact of evolution, and not necessarily to actual descent, will be seen later on.

25 First edition, 1899; now in a second edition.

26 "Genealogie der Urzellen als Losung des Descendenzproblems" (1872), and "Der Darwinismus und die Naturforschung Newtons und Cuviers"

(1874-1877).

27 "Eine kritische Darstellung der modernen Entwicklungslehre," Jena, 1892.

28 Compare Darwin's derivation of fishes from Tunicata because of the notochord which occurs in the tunicate larvae.

29 See Hertwig's "Biological Problem of To-day." London 1896.

30 The justice of this prophecy has been meanwhile ill.u.s.trated by the recent work of H. Friedmann, "Die Konvergenz der Organismen,"

Berlin, 1904.

31 If we wish to, we can even read the "biogenetic law" in Dante. See "Purgatory," p. 26, where the embryo attains successively to the plant, animal and human stages:

"Anima fatta la virtute attiva, Qual d'una _pianta_....

Come fungo marino ...

Ma come _d'animal_ divenga _fante_."

This is, of course, nothing else than Aristotle's theory of evolution, done into terzarima, and corrected by St. Thomas.

For the latest application of these views, even in relation to the "biogenetic fundamental law," see the finely finished "Morpho-genetic Studies" of T. Garbowski (Jena, 1903): "The greater part of what is usually referred to the so-called fundamental biogenetic law depends on illusion, since all things undeveloped or imperfect must bear a greater or less resemblance one to another."

_ 32 I.e._, The occurrence of saltatory, transilient, or discontinuous variations or mutations.

_ 33 I.e._, The emergence of a distinctively new pattern of organisation.

34 See H. G. Bronn's Appendix to his translation of Darwin's "Origin of Species." First German edition.

35 Finally and comprehensively in the two volumes we have already mentioned, "Vortrage uber die Deszendenztheorie," Jena, 1902 (Eng.

trans., London, 1904). "Natural selection depends essentially upon the c.u.mulative augmentation of the most minute useful variations in the direction of their utility; only the useful is developed and increased, and great effects are brought about slowly through the summing up of many very minute steps.... But the philosophical significance of natural selection lies in the fact that it shows us how to explain the origin of useful, well-adapted structures purely by mechanical factors, and without having to fall back upon a directive principle."

36 If it were not white it would be observed by the seals, which would thus avoid being devoured by it. See Weismann, I., p. 70. (English edition, p. 65.)

37 It is almost comical when Weismann, the champion of the purely naturalistic outlook, occasionally forgets his role altogether, and puts in a word for "chance," or attempts to soften absolute predetermination. For if even a single wolf should destroy a stag "by chance," or if a single "id" should "chance" to grow in a manner slightly different from that laid down for it by the compelling force of preceding and accompanying circ.u.mstances, the whole Darwinian edifice would be labour lost.

38 See Darwin, "... chance variations. Unless such occur, natural selection can do nothing."

39 "Die Darwinsehe Theorie. Gemeinverstandliche Vorlesungen uber die Naturphilosophie der Gegenwart gehalten vor Studierenden aller Fakultaten," Leipzig, 1903. This book is the continuation of the author's "Deszendenztheorie."