Evolution is the creation-myth of our age. By telling us our origin it shapes our views of what we are. It influences not just our thought, but our feelings and actions too, in a way which goes far beyond its official function as a biological theory.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the profound impact of evolutionary theory on our understanding of humanity and its influence on our thoughts and actions.
Mary Midgley highlights the significance of evolution not just as a biological concept, but as a narrative that shapes our identity and worldview. By providing a sense of origin, it profoundly affects how we perceive ourselves and our relationships with others, ultimately influencing our emotions and behaviors in ways that extend beyond mere scientific explanation.
In practice
During a lecture on life sciences, this quote could underscore the philosophical implications of evolution.
When some portion of the biosphere is rather unpopular with the human race-a crocodile, a dandelion, a stony valley, a snowstorm, an odd-shaped flint-there are three sorts of human being who are particularly likely still to see point in it and befriend it. They are poets, scientists and children. Inside each of us, I suggest, representatives of all these groups can be found.
Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.
The story of my life is about back entrances, side doors, secret elevators and other ways of getting in and out of places so that people won't bother me.
When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.
A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness.
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by, reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.
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