Book contents
- Frontmatter
- EXTRACT FROM THE DEED OF TRUST, ESTABLISHING THE MORSE LECTURESHIP
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LECTURE I CONDITIONS OF THE INQUIRY
- LECTURE II EXPERIENCE GATHERED FROM PAST CONFLICTS
- LECTURE III INORGANIC ELEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE
- LECTURE IV ORGANIZED EXISTENCE. LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
- LECTURE V RELATIONS OF LOWER AND HIGHER ORGANISMS
- LECTURE VI HIGHER ORGANISMS;—RESEMBLANCES AND CONTRASTS
- LECTURE VII MAN'S PLACE IN THE WORLD
- LECTURE VIII DIVINE INTERPOSITION FOR MORAL GOVERNMENT
- APPENDIX
LECTURE VII - MAN'S PLACE IN THE WORLD
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- EXTRACT FROM THE DEED OF TRUST, ESTABLISHING THE MORSE LECTURESHIP
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LECTURE I CONDITIONS OF THE INQUIRY
- LECTURE II EXPERIENCE GATHERED FROM PAST CONFLICTS
- LECTURE III INORGANIC ELEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE
- LECTURE IV ORGANIZED EXISTENCE. LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
- LECTURE V RELATIONS OF LOWER AND HIGHER ORGANISMS
- LECTURE VI HIGHER ORGANISMS;—RESEMBLANCES AND CONTRASTS
- LECTURE VII MAN'S PLACE IN THE WORLD
- LECTURE VIII DIVINE INTERPOSITION FOR MORAL GOVERNMENT
- APPENDIX
Summary
THE accumulated interest gathered around the direct and collateral investigations bearing on the development of species, has naturally turned greatly increased attention on man's position in the universe. As has been shown by study of the nervous system belonging to animal life, all organism has been constructed on a uniform plan, advancing in complication as the organism becomes more intricate in structure, having separate parts assigned to distinct functions. This uniform plan is seen to culminate in man. Thus it follows, that man appears to the scientific observer, as the last or most advanced figure in a gradually ascending scale. That this is man's place in the field of organized existence no one will doubt.
The prevailing view of our nature, however, recognizes more in it than bone, muscle, nerve, and cellular tissue, while observational science is capable of recognizing no more than these, so that, if there be any thing more, it is quite beyond the range of physical science, and within the territory of mental philosophy. Here then, is preparation for conflict, which may be accepted as inevitable, because of the advance of science. The occasion for this expectation should, however, be fully understood. Its certainty may be maintained on two obvious grounds. The first is concerned with the history of scientific progress.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Relations of Science and ReligionThe Morse Lecture, 1880, pp. 239 - 274Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1881