Perspectives on Ideas, May 5, 2007.

Note: A bold-face statement at the concusion of a quote is an attempt to express a wordy or convoluted quote in plain English.

Evolution
Evolution xiv J.W. Krutch: “We think of ourselves as the climax of evolution, but we may be hardly more than its beginning.” Eiseley, The Immense Journey [We are not the climax of evolution; we might just be the beginning of it.]

Evolution 354 …in 1859 the old world…crashed to pieces with the publication of the Origin of Species…detailed and richly documented theory of the actual mode and process of evolution ‘by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.’ Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Herbert Spencer.

Evolution 396 …Spencer’s usual assumption that evolution and progress are synonymous…. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Herbert Spencer.

Evolution 457 Bergson: ...evolution appears to us as something quite different from the blind and dreary mechanism of struggle and destruction which Darwin and Spencer described...we sense duration in evolution, the accumulations of vital powers, the inventiveness of life and mind, “the continual elaboration of the absolutely new.” Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Bergson. [Darwin described evolution as a blind and dreary mechanism of struggle and destruction; Bergson senses in evolution duration, accumulation and inventiveness.]

Evolution 466 We were near to thinking of the world as a finished and predetermined show, in which our initiative was a self-delusion, and our efforts a devilish humor of the gods; after Bergson we come to see the world as the stage and the material of our own originative powers. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Bergson. [Contrary to thinking of the world as a finished product and our initiative as a delusion, Bergson saw it as a stage for our creative powers.]

Evolution 47 Bishop Wilberforce to Huxley: “Is it on your grandfather’s or your grandmother’s side that the ape ancestry comes in?” Caullery and Tetry A Random Walk in Science.

Evolution 19 …the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may give him [man] hope for a still higher destiny in the distant future. Darwin, Descent of Man. Adler and VanDoren, eds. Great Treasury of Western Thought. [Instead of man’s having just been placed in the world, evolution suggests that man has a higher destiny in the future.]

Evolution 5 Evolution is still an infinitely long and tedious biologic game, with only the winners staying at the table. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell. [Evolution is a game with only the winners staying at the table.]


Excellence
Excellence 81 Can excellence be learned? E. Hamilton. The Greek Way.

Excellence 76 [Excellence is the mean between extremes.] Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle.

Excellence 189 Spinoza: But all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Spinoza.

Excellence 314 Schopenhauer : All religions promise a reward for excellences of the will or heart, but none for excellences of the head or understanding. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.

Excellence 1037 There is always a best way of doing everything, if it be to boil an egg. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.

Existence
Existence 201 You speculate on the luxury of wearing out a whole existence in bed, like an oyster in its shell, content with the sluggish ecstasy of inaction, and drowsily conscious of nothing but delicious warmth…. Hawthorne, Tales and Sketches [The luxury of spending a life in bed like an oyster in a shell, inactive, conscious only of warmth.]

Existence 190 “The whole of existence frightens me,” protested the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard; “from the smallest fly to the mystery of the Incarnation, everything is unintelligible to me, most of all myself.” Eiseley, The Star Thrower [Existence is unintelligible to me, most especially my own.]


Existentialism
Existentialism 21 …man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and only afterwards, defines himself. Sartre, Existentialism. Adler and VanDoren, eds. Great Treasury of Western Thought. [Man first exists and then defines himself.]

Existentialism 21 Not only is man what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he wills himself to be…. Sartre, Existentialism Adler and VanDoren, eds. Great Treasury of Western Thought. [Man is what he wills himself to be.]