280 Theories of Evolution afid Creation 



Speculation, untrammeled by too much knowledge, 

 invents explanations of what happens. These explanations 

 are in terms of such mastery of the environment as is already 

 attained. Like the creative imagination of the poet or artist, 

 speculation can transcend experience. It can do this, how- 

 ever, only in the sense that it can break asunder what we 

 find to hand and recombine the elements of experience into 

 forms not found in nature. Goblins and fairies, invisible 

 forces — more or less disguised homunculi — are improvised 

 to account for all natural phenomena. With the growth 

 of knowledge the speculative constructions are qualified. 

 Poor guesses are supplanted by better ones, and the better 

 ones are remodeled and brought down to date. 



The Rise of Objectivity 



The conscious substitution of observation and reason 

 for authority and faith as a guide to the realities of the 

 world is a comparatively recent experience for civilized 

 man. Sporadic outreachings toward this mental level ap- 

 peared in all ages, but a more or less continuous movement 

 toward such substitution may be dated roughly as from the 

 middle of the Sixteenth Century. An epoch is marked by 

 the Copernican doctrine that the earth is not, after all, the 

 center of things. The thought that the earth is a relatively 

 small speck among several others revolving about the sun, 

 which in turn is one of many stars, was revolutionary. It 

 upset people's ways of looking at the world and of thinking 

 about it. It was not at all an academic matter, since it af- 

 fected fundamental attitudes toward life and death, toward 

 church and state, toward God and destiny. 



However foolish you and I today may consider the con- 

 fusion of religion with dogmas regarding the nature of the 

 physical universe, the trial of Galilei for heresy (1633, less 

 than three hundred years ago!) was directed by sincere con- 

 cern for the spiritual welfare and salvation of the human race. 

 It does not help, at any rate, to assume that persecution for 



