Sebastian De La Cruz
Philosophy
Analysis Paper
September 25, 2015
Professor Skalko
Quoted text:
“But this little incident has always lingered in my mind as a sort of parable. Most modern
histories of mankind begin with the word evolution, and with a rather wordy exposition of
evolution, for much the same reason that operated in this case. There is something slow
and soothing and gradual about the word and even about the idea. As a matter of fact it is
not, touching these primary things, a very practical word or a very profitable idea. Nobody
can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by
explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to
start by saying ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ even if you only mean ‘In
the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.’ For God is by its
nature a name of mystery, and nobody ever supposed that man could imagine how a world
was created any more than he could create one. But evolution really is mistaken for
explanation. It has the fatal quality of leaving on many minds the impression that they do
understand it and everything else; just as many of them live under a sort of illusion that
they have read the Origin of Species. But this notion of something smooth and slow like
the ascent of a slope, is a great part of the illusion. It is an illogically as well as an illusion;
for slowness has really nothing to do with the question. An event is not any more
intrinsically intelligible or unintelligible because of the pace at which it moves. For a man
who does not believe in a miracle, a slow miracle would be just as incredible as a swift
one. The Greek witch may have turned sailors to swine with a stroke of the wand. But to
see a naval gentleman of our acquaintance looking a little more like a pig every day, till he
ended with four trotters and a curly tail would not be any more soothing. It might be rather
more creepy and uncanny. The medieval wizard may have flown through the air from the
top of a tower; but to see an old gentleman walking through the air in a leisurely and
lounging manner, would still seem to call for some explanation. Yet there runs through all
