Evolution and Ethics and Science and Morals [Paperback]

Thomas H. Huxley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Great Minds Series | Publication Date: December 2003

These two essays by the famous 19th-century champion of Darwin's theory of evolution tackle a subject that is still a major focus of ethical debates today: the relation of science as a whole, and specifically evolutionary ideas, to ethics and morality. Written toward the end of Huxley's career when he was already famous as a persuasive lecturer and a fascinating expositor of new ideas, these essays demonstrate his rhetorical gifts and talent for explaining the importance of science to a lay audience.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159102126X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591021261
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Blow to the Is/Ought Fallacy., August 11, 2008

By 

Kevin Currie-Knight "Education Grad Student" (Newark, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Evolution and Ethics and Science and Morals (Paperback)

While most people know Huxley's work on evolution and ethics to be a warning against drawing moral conclusions from Darwinian evolution (inferring values from facts), that is only part of the story. I think that these three essays (Prolegomena, Evolution and Ethics, Science and Morals) is best read as Huxley's attempt to distance himself from the then-popular social darwinism movement. It is true that part of Huxley's concern here is to guard against ANY moral interpretation of evolution, he seems most concerned with arguing against 'survival of the fittest' as a moral principle.

The PROLEGOMENA is, to my mind, the most thorough and thoughtful of the three essays. Written a year after the Romanes lectures, this essay funcitons as much more than an introduction. It is a careful and more explicit restatement of Huxley's case: while nature is, by itself, morally neutral, we must not see human morals as artificial, but as a legitimate part of the natural fabric. Further, Huxley argues, just because evolution produced our moral sentiments does not mean that our moral sentiments must mirror the process of evolution. Just because I have the urge to help others does not, contra Spencer, mean that because this idea may seem in conflict with how evolution works in the animal world, it should be disregarded.

Throughout the essay - and EVOLUTION AND ETHICS - Huxley proceeds to make the case that civil society has erected ways to 'transcend' our evolutionary history of the brute struggle for existence. We've erected laws against theft, murder, rape, etc. - all things that are readily observable in many natural scenes. We have created medicine, systems of education, etc, which all work to ensure that those who may not have survived in a 'state of nature,' can more easily survive. Huxley even makes jabs at the social darwinists by suggesting that, to be logically consistent, they would have to oppose civil laws, modern medicine and whole idea of government protection as a whole as being anathema to "state of nature" that they seemingly want society to be like.

SCIENCE AND MORALS is also best read as Huxley's attempt to distance himself from Spencer and soclal darwinists. This time, though, Huxley is not distancing himself from their moral system, but from their crass materialism. Contra what many say about Huxley, he was not the type who denied the reality of anything that could not be reduced to the natural. Here, he defends the view that intangibles like morals, the joy brought by art and music, consciousness, and free will HAVE to be seen as every bit as real as natural existants. Might the mind have a physical base? Yes, says Huxley, but that doesn't mean that consciousness as a phenomenon can be 'reduced' to matter; in this, Huxley suprisingly calls himself an idealist.

This is a very nice collection of essays. Huxley writes clearly and was a great spokesperson for a reasoned scientific (not scientistic) outlook. Here, he lends his intellect and acuity to a subject that was then, and has been ever since, a buzzing topic. Using Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments as his guide, his goal is to show that, contra social darwinists, our morals must be seen as real and valid even when they contradict the laws of nature. While Huxley does not go into any philosophical exposition of the is/ought dichotonmy - suprising, as he was a big fan of the philosophy's progenitor, David Hume - he certainy alludes to it albeit indirectly.

This is a great work for anyone fascinated, as I am, in the history of the moral controversey surrounding evolution and sceintists' reactions to social darwinism and deriving moral conclusions from amoral facts.