"The question of all questions for humanity, the problem which lies behind all others and is more interesting than any of them, is that of the determination of man's place in nature and his relation to the cosmos." Thomas Henry Huxley
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Our relation to nature is whatever we decide that it is. Hopefully we decide about such things in a way that allows us to enjoy our lives and nature sustainably and with a maximum amount of personal freedom. But there's nothing "out there" that defines that relationship. There are just the natural laws, and the "law" of unintended consequences, and constraints on our knowledge and vitality.
So Huxley was only right in a very practical sense, not in some absolute sense.
mordant
Level 8
Jan 24, 2020
0
Right? I don't think he really made any definitive statement about the answer, only the question.
@Archeus_Lore The question implies there's an answer. My point is there is no answer to the question of our relationship to nature because it's not a defined relationship. So it's the wrong question.
Do you know who Thomas Henry Huxley was? He coined the term "Agnostic", and you first reply seems to assume that the answer is whatever we decide that it is . . . . which would still be an answer.
To a pretty strong degree, I would agree with what you said, but at the same time, as an agnostic, I am not going to second guess the question, and I think that Huxley may have been open to a more definitive answer, but in the realm of our direct relation to the universe as a whole, within the realm of biological, (after all, he was a biologist), and the laws of physics. We have yet to unravel the brain, which is the most complex thing that exists, next to the universe itself. There are some pretty interesting developments in that field at the moment, and the frontier of it is indeed quite active . . . lots of scientists are now well-focused on it. [humanbrainproject.eu]
@Archeus_Lore Yes I know who Huxley was. My point was only that there is no objective relationship to discover "out there" somewhere. It really isn't a point that is dependent on whether or not we unearth some surprising new things about the brain. I am not opposed to anything based in fact that might help us better situate ourselves in relation to reality. But one thing I think Huxley actually understood is that if we were eventually to gain knowledge of some sort of god-like being or cosmic Mind it would bear no relationship to the non-falsifiable gods most people embrace or (in my view wrongly) think possible. His whole "thing" was not to take up a knowledge claim in the absence of substantiation, and there is no possible knowledge claim concerning invisible supernatural beings and realms.
We see it through different eyes, and that is OK . . . . the mind actually invents a great deal, something Democritus seemed to be well aware of . . . "Opinion says hot or cold, but the reality is atoms and empty space."
We are organisms. Our purpose is to survive as a species. That's it, once you've done your part, the rest is there to squander. It quite amazes me how people believe their purpose for life is to worship God; their creator no less! If humans need something to worship, consider the sun.
GROG
GROG
Level 6
Jan 24, 2020
0
Huxley was a famous biologist and an agnostic, he was not referring to any "god".
The big joke is that we have no relation to anything. All life exists within this period of existence but that's not to say any of it has a meaning to specific forms in our existence. When we were nothing, didn't exist, there was no attachment to anything. That's what we'll go back to. What we experience is a product of observation, not lineage, and it won't mean a thing. Certainly not to the cosmos.
rainmanjr
Level 8
Jan 24, 2020
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