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...anyone who writes about "Darwin's theory of evolution" in the singular, without segregating the theories of gradual evolution, common descent, read more
...anyone who writes about "Darwin's theory of evolution" in the singular, without segregating the theories of gradual evolution, common descent, speciation, and the mechanism of natural selection, will be quite unable to discuss the subject competently.
No amount of artificial reinforcement can offset the natural inequalities of human individuals.
No amount of artificial reinforcement can offset the natural inequalities of human individuals.
...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in read more
...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.
Destiny is an invention of the cowardly and the resigned.
Destiny is an invention of the cowardly and the resigned.
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that read more
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that a special warning strip of land around the edge of a baseball field lets a player know that he is about to run into a concrete wall when he is preoccupied with catching the ball. The wider that strip of land and the more sensitive the player is to the changing composition of the ground under his feet as he pursues the ball, the more effective the warning. Romanticizing or lionizing as "individualistic" those people who disregard social cues and inducements increases the danger of head-on collisions with inherent social limits. Decrying various forms of social disapproval is in effect narrowing the warning strip.
We often despise what is most useful to us.
We often despise what is most useful to us.
The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human read more
The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. The mob and the intellectuals derived from it the vision of a Golden Age which would arrive without fail once the noble human race could act according to its whims.
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the read more
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.
What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in read more
What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored.