Maggie's Farm

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Thursday, February 12. 2009

Darwin

It's the birthday of Charles Darwin. I'd like to highlight this very observant fellow's most original work, The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animal.


That book has been a gold mine for students of human behavior, and is the foundation of sociobiology.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 14:53 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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I’m clueless about why Intelligent Design gets hammered by atheists. In my little world, a big all knowing supreme spiritual being will know the end before inventing the means (or while inventing the means). They're everywhere all the time, so to speak. But the little scientist is stuck in some particular time and place, forced to percieve relatively and think linearly.
#1 commander clopfelter (Link) on 2009-02-12 16:53 (Reply)
I've always found it interesting that both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on February 12, 1809. Coupling this with the fact that Felix Mendelssohn was born on February 3, 1809 provides me a convenient political, scientific and cultural touchstone.

Enjoy your day.
#2 Phil on 2009-02-12 18:33 (Reply)
I'd find it easier to believe in God, who left such abundant evidence of his plan, than to believe in some missing link which, to my knowledge, is missing still. But then, I sat in the back reading books by Tom Wolfe during science class.
#3 The Distributist (Link) on 2009-02-12 19:43 (Reply)
If you believe mankind began as a two-cell creature
that crawled up out of a mossy pond and evolved into
what we are today...

..then your faith is bigger,deeper, more intense than mine.

Isaiah 55: 8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts ,
Neither are my ways your ways". Declares the Lord

how 'bout that, a mystery .
#4 DucSup on 2009-02-12 20:10 (Reply)
Feeling uber logic. Is it any wonder we're in the mess we're in today.
#5 KRW on 2009-02-12 20:37 (Reply)
Jeeze. It just is. That's all. Asking or contemplating unanswerable questions just takes one away from the present. A goal and benefit for many a nefarious player. But then, I work for a living, what do I know.
#6 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-12 20:38 (Reply)
"The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." - Ken Kesey

"The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man." - GK Chesteton, Introduction to the Book of Job, 1907

I believe Kesey arrived about the time GK departed.
#6.1 The Distributist (Link) on 2009-02-12 20:49 (Reply)
"The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."

Perhaps because we're prefer to avoid reality... Ken did a nice job of that, overall. Not to say that his life wasn't full of drama... but that bus... yikes.

"The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man."

Of course... see above.

All in good humor TD.
#6.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-12 21:48 (Reply)
Happy birthday, Mr. Darwin, you very observant fellow!





sheesh. I don't get a god that would produce an animal capable of the malevolence of the human race. I see it around me every day, and I still don't get it.
`
#7 Meta on 2009-02-12 20:51 (Reply)
Ah, but do can you comprehend a god that would produce a human capable of the malevolence of animals?
#8 The Distributist (Link) on 2009-02-12 20:54 (Reply)
Actually, not. A very stern and revengeful fellow would be he. But evolution... yes.
#8.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-12 21:51 (Reply)
It takes thought to be malevolent. Animals run on instinct.
Humans are the only animals capable of thought.
`
#8.2 Meta on 2009-02-12 22:11 (Reply)
I have often heard of "the malevolent forces of nature" - perhaps that was always a reference to mankind.
#8.2.1 The Distributist (Link) on 2009-02-14 16:17 (Reply)
Malevolence is evil. It takes consciousness to be evil and to recognize it. People who anthropomophize nature have it wrong.

On the other hand, Mother Nature is an indiscrimate killer. Just like Father Time.
`
#8.2.1.1 Meta on 2009-02-14 20:22 (Reply)
"Canadian University Drops Language-Police Force on Its Campus

Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, has shut down a controversial pilot project in which eavesdroppers could intervene in campus conversations deemed to be objectionable, according to an announcement by the university’s vice president, Patrick Deane.

In the project, six students, known as “dialogue facilitators,” were given the authority to step in if the talk in private conversations contained offensive language, showed any form of disrespect, or trashed ethnic, gay, or religious groups.

The so-called language-police project was widely condemned, not only on free-speech grounds but also because it had been imported from the United States without “assessing its appropriateness on a Canadian campus,” according to The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper.

The university acted to terminate the project immediately after a panel of experts recommended canning the language cops." —
#9 faculty wife on 2009-02-12 22:56 (Reply)
``Darwin in The Expression of Emotion in Men and Animals, I remember, remarks that he had heard Sydney Smith say placidly "I hear that dear old Lady Cork has been overlooked," and he made quite clear to everyone that the Devil had forgotten to take her, but how he did it Darwin could not say.''

Wm. Empson The Structure of Complex Words p.45
#10 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2009-02-13 11:41 (Reply)

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