The Ongoing Battle Against Darwinism — part 3, Darwin’s Bulldog
This is the third article in a series intended to expose the flaws in Darwinian evolutionary theory, and work towards a new theory to replace it. In the first I argued that Darwinism is not science, rather atheism posing as science, using examples of various scientists who followed in Darwin’s footsteps. In the second I discussed Darwin’s own attitudes. Here I’ll briefly mention Thomas Huxley, otherwise known as Darwin’s Bulldog, in that he adopted the latter’s theory so passionately, and defended it ferociously.
We should perhaps not call him an atheist for it was he that coined the term agnostic. However, as is clear from the following quotes, he was a dedicated materialist:
- “The thoughts to which I am giving utterance, and your thoughts regarding them are the expression of molecular changes”¹.
- “Consciousness… would appear to be related to the mechanisms of the body… simply as a side product of its working and to be completely without any power of modifying that working as the sound of a steam whistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive… is without influence upon its machinery”².
- “The physiology of the future (will) gradually extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with knowledge, with feeling, and with action”³.
The obvious thing to point out is that what he was stating in the first two quotes were not scientific facts, even though he presents them as such; they were merely his preconceived beliefs. This is clear because he says as much in the third quote; he requires the science of the future to demonstrate their truth, an attitude known as promissory materialism.
Huxley is saying that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain. (It was in fact he who coined the term.) So the second obvious thing to point out is that his expectation has not been fulfilled, at least not yet. Neuroscientists and philosophers are still wrestling with what has become known as the Hard Problem. Some, for example Philip Goff⁴, in desperation are contemplating panpsychism as the only way out of the dilemma.
Given this commitment to finding only materialist explanations, is it any surprise that Huxley embraced Darwin’s theory so readily?
Footnotes:
1. Selections from the Essays of T. H. Huxley, Alburey Castell (ed.), Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1948, p 19
2. quoted in The Natural History of Mind, Gordon Rattray Taylor, Dutton, 1979, p 4
3. as 1., p21
4. Galileo’s Error, Rider, 2019
