Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the idea that human evolution is unequivocally an advance, highlighting the subjective nature of such assessments.
Bertrand Russell's quote reflects on the evolution of organic life, emphasizing that the notion of progress from protozoa to philosophers is primarily constructed by the philosophers themselves. This perspective prompts us to question the validity of declaring any stage of development as superior, suggesting that such judgments may be biased and self-serving, as they arise from a more advanced but possibly flawed viewpoint.
In practice
In a discussion about scientific advancements and their impact on society, this quote could highlight the subjective interpretation of progress.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
The energy or active exercise of the mind constitutes life.
No birth is an accident, No experience is without meaning, and no life is without value.
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
We say that the sun is behind the clouds, but actually it is not the sun but the city from which we view it that is behind the clouds. If we realized that the sun is never behind the clouds we might have a different attitude toward the whole thing.
If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long.
How shall a man escape from that which is written; How shall he flee from his destiny?
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