Saturday, December 14, 2013

Science

"Some critics regard the changing theories of science as a sign of weakness in the whole scientific approach to nature. This criticism reflects a personal attitude. No one wishing to find absolutely certain answers to his questions about the world should be seeking them within the open-minded framework of science in the first place. The person in quest of certainty and finality should consider one of the numerous authoritarian dogmas available, some of which have come down to us unchnaged since the time of barbarism."

-- p.38 of Grant, V. 1966. The Origin of Adaptations. New York, Columbia University Press.

Thinking about evolution is a delicate thing. You become involved in multiple scales rather quickly, and these hold together so tenuously, in the human mind, that a slight disturbance scrambles the picture.

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