Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
symbolic coincidences. Nevertheless, since we can detect their presence,
we should suppose similar effects. If the heroism of biblical and romantic
protagonists is elevated and the hubris of tragic ones deepened by such
associations with nature, Huxley's use of a similar literary technique may
also transform scientists into actors belonging to a superintendent order of
being. In fact, the serious scientific work that Huxley also appears to per-
form in doing so would only magnify this mythical effect. We know that the
romantic hero's identification with spring is an effect of imagination, but
the linkages between science and nature in
Man's Place in Nature
purport to
have their basis in evolutionary science. Readers introduced to the heading
of its second chapter, “On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals,”
will expect to find in what follows a summary of evidence supporting the
evolutionary kinship of human beings and primates—and of course they do.
But the genuine science that is reviewed as it unfolds also occults its mythi-
cal treatment of this same material. Having been asked to suppose that they
are approaching a scientific discourse, those who read the chapter's first
paragraph will hardly notice that they have been transported into a differ-
ent sphere of meaning. Having entered through the merely zoological door
signaled by Huxley's title, they are less likely to notice the mythical terrain
they are stepping onto.
The question of questions for mankind—the problem which underlies all
others, and is more deeply interesting than any other—is the ascertain-
ment of the place which Man occupies in nature and of his relations to
the universe of things. Whence our race has come; what are the limits of
our power over nature, and of nature's power over us; to what goal are
we tending; are the problems which present themselves anew and with
undiminished interest to every man born into the world.
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Nothing in this statement refers to any of the technical details of the
new evolutionary theory. Thus if we were to read this out of context, we
would be apt to regard it as the beginning of a religious or philosophical
discourse. Huxley's supposition that he is opening up a discussion of ulti-
mate concern having to do with our “place” in the universe and the “goal”
of history would in such circumstances call to mind the traditional specula-
tions of theology and philosophy rather than science. This is because terms
like “place” and “goal” belong to the traditional metaphorical vocabulary
of metaphysics. But what makes our reading of this statement different is
precisely the fact that the reader is left to presume that this
is a
science topic.
Because Huxley has set these lines within a topic devoted to biological
