24 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



CHAPTER II. 



SCIENTIFIC JUSTIFICATION OF THE THEORY OF DE- 

 SCENT. HISTORY OF CREATION ACCORDING TO 



LINN^US. 



The Theory of Descent, or Doctrine of Filiation, as the Monistic Explana- 

 tion of Organic Natural Phenomena. — Its Comparisoa with Newton's 

 Theory of Gravitation. — Limits of Scientific Explanation and of Human 

 Knowledge in general. — All Knowledge founded originally on Sensuous 

 Experience, d posteriori. — Transition of d posteriori knowledge, by In- 

 heritance, into d priori knowledge. — Contrast between the Supernatural 

 Hypotheses of the Creation according to Linnseus, Cuvier, Agassiz, and 

 the Natural Theories of Development according to Lamarck, Goethe, 

 and Darwin. — Connection of the former with the Monistic (mechanical), 

 of the latter with the Dualistic Conception of the Universe. — Monism 

 and Materialism. — Scientific and Moral Materialism. — The History of 

 Creation according to Moses. — Linnaeus as the Founder of the Systematic 

 Description of Natui'e and Distinction of Species. — Linnaeus' Classifica- 

 tion and Binary Nomenclature. — Meaning of Linnaeus' Idea of Species. 

 — His History of Creation. — Linnasus' view of the Origin of Species. 



The value which every scientific theory possesses is 

 measured by the number and importance of the objects 

 which can be explained by it, as well as by the simplicity 

 and universality of the causes which are employed in it as 

 grounds of explanation. On the one hand, the greater the 

 number and the more important the meaning of the 

 phenomena explained by the theory, and the simpler, on 

 the other hand, and the more general the causes which the 

 theory assigns as explanations, the greater is its scientific 



