EVOLUTION AND THERMODYNAMICS 



In justice to the theologians, it must be remembered that some 

 have strongly contested Inge's views, notably Rashdall.^ 



Another reason for which theologians or' theologically-minded 

 scientists extol the second law is that it is tempting to identify the 

 "winding-up" process, whatever it was, which started our galaxy 

 off on its course with a maximum of free energy, with the act of 

 creation by a personal deity. This always seems to me extremely 

 premature, for we have no evidence that the universe does not operate 

 in a cyclical way, periods of entropy-increase alternating with the 

 appearance of new free energy. Milne^ has pointed out that "the arrow 

 of time" should more properly be regarded as a flight of arrows, 

 since other galaxies are not at the same stage of their development as 

 ours. Moreover, it may be that at the "edges" of the universe — if 

 this expression means anything — free energy is continually being 

 formed, so that like animals living in a stream or pipe which find the 

 water always going by, we should see our world always "running 

 down" but never reaching the end of the process. For those who 

 like theological speculation, this might be regarded as a modem 

 form of the doctrine of the "General Concourse" in which God 

 must ever uphold the universe which he created. But I am unable 

 to see that these speculations do anyone any good except those who 

 are concerned to give ideological justification to ideas associated with 

 backward social tendencies. It would be far better to await the further 

 discoveries of astronomy and astro-physics with an open mind. 



Thinkers approach the second law, therefore, with various forms 

 of tacit bias, and these should be taken into account in considering 

 what they say. One welcomes the degradation of energy and the 

 disintegration of the world in the interests of other-worldly theology; 

 another seeks evidence for a creator. I have no reason to suppose 

 that I am without bias myself; in so far as anyone can state his own 

 with any accuracy, I find the background of my thought to be the 

 elucidation of the nature of life and man, the definition of the direction 

 in which evolution has occurred, and the establishment of hope for 

 man's struggles towards the perfect social order. The reason why the 

 contradiction between the two concepts of organisation is so important 

 is because the world-view, and hence the behaviour, of men in general 

 is deeply affected by the "first and last things" of the world and of 

 life and man within it. 



^ Ideas and Ideals (Oxford, 1928), by H. Rashdall. 



^ E. A. Milne, Relativity, Gravitation and World Structure (Oxford, 1935), P- 286. 



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