What is crucial to your survival as a race is not the redistribution of power and wealth within the prison but rather the destruction of the prison itself.
Daniel QuinnRead
Do you see the slightest evidence anywhere in the universe that creation came to an end with the birth of man? Do you see the slightest evidence anywhere out there that man was the climax toward which creation had been straining from the beginning? ...Very far from it. The universe went on as before, the planet went on as before. Man's appearance caused no more stir than the appearance of jellyfish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote challenges the idea that humanity is the pinnacle of creation, suggesting instead that the universe continues to evolve independently of mankind.
Daniel Quinn's quote reflects a philosophical viewpoint that critiques anthropocentrism—the belief that human beings are the most significant entities in the universe. By comparing man's emergence to that of jellyfish, Quinn emphasizes that humanity is not the culmination of creation, but rather just another species in a vast, ongoing universe that does not revolve around human existence. This perspective invites us to reevaluate our place in the cosmos and the significance we assign to human life in the broader context of nature.
Themes
CreationUniverseHumanityPhilosophyExistence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about human significance in the universe during a philosophy class.
More from Daniel Quinn
All quotes →If the world is saved, it will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all.
Daniel QuinnRead
This law … defines the limits of competition in the community of life. You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down your competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war.
Daniel QuinnRead
[I]n Africa I was a member of a family—of a sort of family that the people of your culture haven't known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillas—but there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand.
Daniel QuinnRead
You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live. … You are captives—and you have made a captive of the world itself. That's what's at stake, isn't it?—your captivity and the captivity of the world.
Daniel QuinnRead
The premise of the Taker story is 'the world belongs to man'. … The premise of the Leaver story is 'man belongs to the world'.
Daniel QuinnRead
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