Man in the Modern World - Softcover

Huxley, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451605659 ISBN 13: 9780451605658

Publisher: Signet, 1968

Synopsis

MAN IN THE MODERN WORLD By JULIAN HUXLEY Also by the Author: DEMOCRACY MARCHES ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST THE UNIQUENESS OF MAN ESSAYS IN POPULAR SCIENCE WHAT DARE I THINK? A SCIENTIST AMONG THE SOVIETS BIRDWATCHING AND BIRDBEHAVIOUR T. H. HUXLEYS DIARY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. RATTLESNAKE ON LIVING IN A REVOLUTION AFRICA VIEW ANTS CONTENTS The Uniqueness of Man page Eugenics and Society Climate and Human History The Size of Living Things The Courtship of Animals The Intelligence of Birds The Analysis of Fame Science,, Naturaland Social Religion as an Objective Problem Life can be Worth Living On Living in a Revolution Philosophy in a World at War War as a Biological Phenomenon Darwinism Today Thomas Henry Huxley and Julian Huxley: An Imaginary Interview Dr. Spooner: the Growth of a Legend Birds and Men on St Kilda Tennessee Revisited : the Technique of Democratic Planning Colonies in a Changing World Race in Europe Education as a Social Function "THE UNIQUENESS OF MAN MANS opinion of his own position in relation to the rest of the animals has swung pendulumwise between too great or too little a conceit of himself, fixing now too large a gap between himself and the animals, now too small. The gap, of course, can be dimin ished or increased at either the animal or the human end. One can, like Descartes, make animals too mechanical, or, like most unsophisti cated people, humanize them too much. Or one can work at the human end of the gap, and then either dehumanize ones own kind into an animal species like any other, or superhumanize it into beings a little lower than the angels. Primitive and savage man, the world over, not only accepts his obvious kinship with the animals but also projects into them many of his own attributes. So far as we can judge, he has very little pride in his own humanity. With the advent of settled civilization, economic stratification, and the development of an elaborate religion as the ideological mortar of a now classridden society, the pendulum began slowly to swing in the other direction. Animal divinities and various physiological functions such as fertility gradually lost their sacred importance, Gods became anthropomorphic and human psycho logical qualities preeminent, Man saw himself as a being set apart, with the rest of the animal kingdom created to serve his needs and pleasure, with no share in salvation, no position in eternity. In west ern civilization this swing of the pendulum reached its limit in devel oped Christian theology and in the philosophy of Descartes both alike inserted a qualitative and unbridgeable barrier between all men and any animals. With Darwin, the reverse swing was started. Man was once again regarded as an animal, but now in the light of science rather than of unsophisticated sensibility. At the outset, the consequences of the changed outlook were not fully explored. The unconscious prejudices and attitudes of an earlier age survived, disguising many of the moral and philosophical implications of the new outlook. But gradually the pendulum reached the furthest point of its swing. What seemed the logical consequences of the Darwinian postulates were faced: man is an animal like any other accordingly, his views as to the special meaning of human life and human ideals need merit no more con sideration in the light of eternity or of evolution than those of a bacillus or a tapeworm. Survival is the only criterion of evolutionary success: therefore, all existing organisms are of equal value. The idea of progress is a mere anthropomorphism. Man happens to be the dominant type at the moment, but he might be replaced by the ant or the rat. And so on."

About this edition

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1968
• ISBN 10: 0451605659
• ISBN 13: 9780451605658
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback