William James Quotes About Evolution

Quotes about: Evolution

• The self-same atoms which, chaotically dispersed, made the nebula, now, jammed and temporarily caught in peculiar positions, form our brains; and the 'evolution' of brains, if understood, would be simply the account of how the atoms came to be so caught and jammed.

  William James

  Science, Self, Brain

  William James (2012). “The Principles of Psychology”, p.146, Courier Corporation

• If evolution and the survival of the fittest be true at all, the destruction of prey and of human rivals must have been among the most important. . . . It is just because human bloodthirstiness is such a primitive part of us that it is so hard to eradicate, especially when a fight or a hunt is promised as part of the fun.

  William James

  Fun, Fighting, Survival

  William James (1918). “The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 2”, p.412, Courier Corporation

• A remarkable parallel, which I think has never been noticed, obtains between the facts of social evolution on the one hand, and of zological evolution as expounded by Mr. Darwin on the other.

  William James

  Thinking, Hands, Facts

  William James (1956). “The Will to Believe: And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, and Human Immortality”, p.216, Courier Corporation

• Social evolution is a resultant of the interaction of two wholly distinct factors: the individual ... bearing all the power of initiative and origination in his hands; and, second, the social environment with its power of adopting or rejecting both him and his gifts. Both factors are essential to change. The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

  William James

  Hands, Two, Community

  William James (2015). “Essays in Popular Philosophy: Top Essays”, p.144, 谷月社

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