Arthur keith

The proper balance between individual liberty and central authority is a very ancient problem.

Christianity has not conquered nationalism; the opposite has been the case nationalism has made Christianity its footstool.

No tribe unites with another of its own free will.

Tribal life comes automatically to an end when a primitive people begins to live in a town or a city, for sooner or later a tribal organization is found to be incompatible with life in a city.

The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.

The main force used in the evolving world of humanity has hitherto been applied in the form of war.

No tempting form of error is without some latent charm derived from truth.

The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but what takes place in our hearts.

Universalism as an ideal is as old as nay, is probably much more ancient than the Christian ideal.

Before the discovery of agriculture mankind was everywhere so divided, the size of each group being determined by the natural fertility of its locality.

It is just because civilization is ever evolving, changing, and becoming more complicated, that experts find it so difficult to define it in explicit terms.

Religious leaders and men of science have the same ideals; they want to understand and explain the universe of which they are part; they both earnestly desire to solve, if a solution be ever possible, that great riddle: Why are we here?

Whichever theory we adopt to give a rational explanation of human existence, that theory must take into account and explain the mental nature we see at work in all modern communities.

Human nature, as manifested in tribalism and nationalism, provides the momentum of the machinery of human evolution.

We shall never understand the ethical system taught by Jesus unless we realize that he was a Jew, not only by birth, but that he lived and taught as a Jew; the Sermon on the Mount was addressed to his distracted fellow nationals.

Nowhere is Universalism welcomed and encouraged by a people; everywhere governments have forced and are forcing Universalism upon unwilling and resistant subjects.

There are the further difficulties of building a population out of a diversity of races, each at a different stage of cultural evolution, some in need of restraint, many in need of protection; everywhere a bewildering Babel of tongues.

Under no stretch of imagination can war be regarded as an ethical process; yet war, force, terror, and propaganda were the evolutionary means employed to weld the German people into a tribal whole.

Good men, whether they be Christians or rationalists, do not desire to discriminate between races, but the distinctions implanted by Nature are too conspicuous to escape the observation of our senses.

This world of ours has been constructed like a superbly written novel: we pursue the tale with avidity, hoping to discover the plot.

There are very few men and women in whom a Universalist feeling is altogether lacking; its prevalence suggests that it must be part of our inborn nature and have a place in Nature's scheme of evolution.

Civilization, we shall find, like Universalism and Christianity, is anti evolutionary in its effects; it works against the laws and conditions which regulated the earlier stages of man's ascent.

I am a rank individualist.

The German Fuhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consistently sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.

A drunkard is one thing, and a temperate man is quite another.

Tolerance is held to be a condition of mind which is encouraged by, and is necessary for, civilization.

As long as man remains an inquiring animal, there can never be a complete unanimity in our fundamental beliefs. The more diverse our paths, the greater is likely to be the divergence of beliefs.

In a tribal organization, even in time of peace, service to tribe or state predominates over all self seeking; in war, service for the tribe or state becomes supreme, and personal liberty is suspended.

Civilization never stands still; if in one country it is falling back, in another it is changing, evolving, becoming more complicated, bringing fresh experience to body and mind, breeding new desires, and exploiting Nature's cupboard for their satisfaction.

Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable.

I prize the conditions under which I have lived because they have permitted me to choose my opportunities, to inquire into such matters as interested me, and to publish what I believed to be true, uncontrolled by any central authority.

Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful.

In every man there is an instinctive and passionate reaction if his person or liberty is attacked.

Reason has not tamed desire: it is as strong as ever.

My personal conviction is that science is concerned wholly with truth, not with ethics.

Author details

Arthur Keith: Biography and Life Work

Arthur Keith was a notable British anatomist and anthropologist. The story of Arthur Keith began on 5 February 1866 in Aberdeenshire. The legacy of Arthur Keith continues today, following their passing on 7 January 1955 in Downe, Kent.

Sir Arthur Keith FRS FRAI (5 February 1866 – 7 January 1955) was a British anatomist and anthropologist , and a proponent of scientific racism . He was a fellow and later the Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England . He was a strong proponent of the Piltdown Man , but conceded it to be a forgery shortly before his death.

Legacy and Personal Influence

Historically, their work is best remembered for Group selection.

Philosophical Views and Reflections

An address given to Students at Aberdeen University. Keith's concluding sentences in this book sums up his thesis: "Even in the modern world we must listen to the voice of Nature. Under the control of reason, prejudice has to be given a place in the regulation of human affairs." (p. 54) Keith remarks that the 18th century common sense realist philosopher Thomas Reid reached the same conclusion. Keith also cites Adam Smith , the theoretical father of capitalism, who in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) regarded prejudices as part of human nature, to both preserve human life and for the welfare of the common good. Keith concludes that the idea that prejudices "are not artificially acquired, but have been grafted deeply into our natures for particular purposes" is not merely a discovery of Darwinism. Indeed, from a Christian perspective, these arational feelings must serve some higher survival purpose and are so largely present in life, that they all can't be dismissed as "sin."

Keith died in 1955, some four years before the 100th anniversary of Darwin's work, so that he was clearly not available to write an introduction for the centennial edition (this was actually done by William Robin Thompson who did in fact hold anti-Darwinian views as can be seen from his foreword published the year after Keith died). Furthermore, while Keith did write an introduction to earlier printings of Origin of Species , in use from 1928 to 1958, the words given above do not appear in that introduction. Finally, the last "edition" of Origin of Species is the sixth edition published 1879. It is for this reason that all later publications of Origin of Species are actually reprints of this or earlier editions so that there is simply no "100th edition" of Darwin's work. The quote appears to stem from a 1947 article about—not by—Arthur Keith, in the magazine The Nineteenth Century, which was then misattributed.

Arthur Keith
Arthur keith

Arthur Keith: Biography and Life Work

Arthur Keith was a notable British anatomist and anthropologist. The story of Arthur Keith began on 5 February 1866 in Aberdeenshire. The legacy of Arthur Keith continues today, following their passing on 7 January 1955 in Downe, Kent.

Sir Arthur Keith FRS FRAI (5 February 1866 – 7 January 1955) was a British anatomist and anthropologist , and a proponent of scientific racism . He was a fellow and later the Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England . He was a strong proponent of the Piltdown Man , but conceded it to be a forgery shortly before his death.

Legacy and Personal Influence

Historically, their work is best remembered for Group selection.

Philosophical Views and Reflections

An address given to Students at Aberdeen University. Keith's concluding sentences in this book sums up his thesis: "Even in the modern world we must listen to the voice of Nature. Under the control of reason, prejudice has to be given a place in the regulation of human affairs." (p. 54) Keith remarks that the 18th century common sense realist philosopher Thomas Reid reached the same conclusion. Keith also cites Adam Smith , the theoretical father of capitalism, who in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) regarded prejudices as part of human nature, to both preserve human life and for the welfare of the common good. Keith concludes that the idea that prejudices "are not artificially acquired, but have been grafted deeply into our natures for particular purposes" is not merely a discovery of Darwinism. Indeed, from a Christian perspective, these arational feelings must serve some higher survival purpose and are so largely present in life, that they all can't be dismissed as "sin."

Keith died in 1955, some four years before the 100th anniversary of Darwin's work, so that he was clearly not available to write an introduction for the centennial edition (this was actually done by William Robin Thompson who did in fact hold anti-Darwinian views as can be seen from his foreword published the year after Keith died). Furthermore, while Keith did write an introduction to earlier printings of Origin of Species , in use from 1928 to 1958, the words given above do not appear in that introduction. Finally, the last "edition" of Origin of Species is the sixth edition published 1879. It is for this reason that all later publications of Origin of Species are actually reprints of this or earlier editions so that there is simply no "100th edition" of Darwin's work. The quote appears to stem from a 1947 article about—not by—Arthur Keith, in the magazine The Nineteenth Century, which was then misattributed.

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Empery Quotes
Inspire · Reflect · Repeat