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Quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“(Evolution) general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforward if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light which illuminates all facts, a curve that all lines must follow.”

Quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Book:The Phenomenon of Man
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Work

The Phenomenon of Man

A philosophical and scientific analysis of the development of human thought and its implications for our place in the cosmos. more

Author

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French philosopher, theologian, and paleontologist. His thoughts were deeply influenced by evolution and religious faith, proposing concepts of 'cosmic consciousness' and 'human unity'. Chardin's works covered various fields such as philosophy, theology, and science, and had a profound impact on 20th-century philosophical and religious thought. more

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FactsScienceChanceDoubtDesignEvolutionEvidenceBiologyNatural SelectionCompatibility
Book:Chance and necessity: an essay on the natural philosophy of modern biology
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“It appears, according to the reported facts, that the electric conflict is not restricted to the conducting wire, but that it has a rather extended sphere of activity around it .. the nature of the circular action is such that movements that it produces take place in directions precisely contrary to the two extremities of a given diameter. Furthermore, it seems that the circular movement, combined with the progressive movement in the direction of the length of the conjunctive wire, should form a mode of action which is exerted as a helix around this wire as an axis.”

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Author:Hans Christian Ørsted
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“In the history of philosophy, the term “rationalism” has two distinct meanings. In one sense, it signifies an unbreached commitment to reasoned thought in contrast to any irrationalist rejection of the mind. In this sense, Aristotle and Ayn Rand are preeminent rationalists, opposed to any form of unreason, including faith. In a narrower sense, however, rationalism contrasts with empiricism as regards the false dichotomy between commitment to so-called “pure” reason (i.e., reason detached from perceptual reality) and an exclusive reliance on sense experience (i.e., observation without inference therefrom). Rationalism, in this sense, is a commitment to reason construed as logical deduction from non-observational starting points, and a distrust of sense experience (e.g., the method of Descartes). Empiricism, according to this mistaken dichotomy, is a belief that sense experience provides factual knowledge, but any inference beyond observation is a mere manipulation of words or verbal symbols (e.g., the approach of Hume). Both Aristotle and Ayn Rand reject such a false dichotomy between reason and sense experience; neither are rationalists in this narrow sense. Theology is the purest expression of rationalism in the sense of proceeding by logical deduction from premises ungrounded in observable fact—deduction without reference to reality. The so-called “thinking” involved here is purely formal, observationally baseless, devoid of facts, cut off from reality. Thomas Aquinas, for example, was history’s foremost expert regarding the field of “angelology.” No one could match his “knowledge” of angels, and he devoted far more of his massive Summa Theologica to them than to physics.”

PhilosophyFactsRealityHistoryLogicExperiencePhysicsTheologyFactRationalismEmpiricismAristotleHumeAyn RandDavid HumeFalse DichotomyAngelologyLogical DeductionSumma Theologica
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“For the first time I saw a medley of haphazard facts fall into line and order. All the jumbles and recipes and hotchpotch of the inorganic chemistry of my boyhood seemed to fit into the scheme before my eyes—as though one were standing beside a jungle and it suddenly transformed itself into a Dutch garden. [Upon hearing the Periodic Table explained in a first-tern university lecture.]”

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Book:The Search
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“It surely can be no offence to state, that the progress of science has led to new views, and that the consequences that can be deduced from the knowledge of a hundred facts may be very different from those deducible from five. It is also possible that the facts first known may be the exceptions to a rule and not the rule itself, and generalisations from these first-known facts, though useful at the time, may be highly mischievous, and impede the progress of the science if retained when it has made some advance.”

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Author:Henry Thomas De La Beche
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