6 The Common Sense of the Evolution Question 



lived, did he " cross the Delaware "? The Delaware still 

 flows on, and we have hundreds of legends and monuments 

 and main streets that presuppose the previous existence and 

 activities of " Washington." But quite as much may be said 

 of many a Greek god or hero. There is Mount Olympus, 

 there are statues, temples, and other monuments. Who of 

 us accepts as a fact^ because of these, the historical reality of 

 Zeus? 



What We Can Know of the Past 



When we speak of the past, the past that extends back 

 beyond our own remembrance, it is difficult to make sure 

 of facts. It is common sense to believe that things existed 

 before we were born, and that things happened pretty much 

 then as they do now. Still, reasonable as this belief is, it is 

 not direct knowledge. There are some people who get them- 

 selves into a frame of mind that doubts whether anything 

 ever did or does now exist except in their own vttnds. But 

 if we are not satisfied with our own conceit, we are obliged 

 to take a great deal on faith — that is, we have to believe 

 what we are told about the past. Even so simple an assertion 

 as " I was born " involves a distinct succession of deductions 

 with an unquestioning faith in one's postulates. Such an 

 assertion cannot rest on direct knowledge. You may know 

 that you exist; you cannot know so directly that you were 

 born, although the inference is reasonable and the conclusion 

 highly probable. 



In order to build up an acceptable picture of past events 

 we are obliged to depend upon more or less reliable records 

 of various sorts. We are constantly doing just this with the 

 utmost confidence in the soundness of our method. On the 

 other hand, the very people who seem to have the greatest 

 doubts regarding the evolutionary mode of restating what 

 has been found out about the past accept most uncritically 

 as historical truth all sorts of unsupported myths and un- 

 verifiable legends. 



