Evolution And Ethics And Other Essays

Evolution and Ethics' addressed the social and political debate about the application of the evolutionary principle of competition in society during the 1890s. Huxley, a renowned supporter of Darwin, was strictly against such application as he threatened that ethics, the base of a civilized community, would vanish. He argued that ethical process kept natural processes in check and made men truly human. Moreover, Huxley emphasized that while evolution governed nature's biological realm, ethics was the domain of human conscience and society.

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley was an English biologist (comparative anatomist), known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Huxley's famous debate in 1860 with Samuel Wilberforce was a key moment in the wider acceptance of evolution and in his own career. Huxley had been planning to leave Oxford on the previous day, but, after an encounter with Robert Chambers, the author of Vestiges, he changed his mind and decided to join the debate. Wilberforce was coached by Richard Owen, against whom Huxley also debated about whether humans were closely related to apes. Huxley was slow to accept some of Darwin's ideas, such as gradualism, and was undecided about natural selection, but despite this he was wholehearted in his public support of Darwin. Instrumental in developing scientific education in Britain, he fought against the more extreme versions of religious tradition. Originally coining the term in 1869, Huxley elaborated on 'agnosticism' in 1889 to frame the nature of claims in terms of what is knowable and what is not. Huxley states, "Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorus [sic] application of a single principle... the fundamental axiom of modern science... In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration... In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable.". Use of that term has continued to the present day.

《论自由》讨论了个人在宗教信仰、思想、言论、个性等方面的自由，研究了社会对个人可行使权力的性质和界限，提出了“人类无论是作为个人还是作为集体，只有在出于自卫这惟一目的时，才能干预任何人或人群的行动自由”这一鲜明论点。