Sunday, July 07, 2019

Chesterton beat me to it

I have been using the reductio ad absurdum "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are evolved equal, and that they were endowed by evolution with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

It seems as if G. K. Chesterton beat me to it by a few decades. 

“The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.”

― G.K. Chesterton

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/229497-the-declaration-of-independence-dogmatically-bases-all-rights-on-the

It comes from What I Saw in America.

Aw, shucks.

3 comments:

One Brow said...

The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal.

No one brings the eloquence into the stupidity like Chesterton.

There is no "equal" nor "unequal" in evolution, nor in biology. Such a concept could only exist in non-biological systems, such as laws and religions.

Kevin said...

There is no "equal" nor "unequal" in evolution, nor in biology.

Except there literally is, otherwise "survival of the fittest" would be a nonexistent concept. I'm not quite sure how anyone with any knowledge of biology could suggest otherwise.

One Brow said...

Legion of Logic said...
Except there literally is, otherwise "survival of the fittest" would be a nonexistent concept. I'm not quite sure how anyone with any knowledge of biology could suggest otherwise.

Since "survival of the fittest" isn't actually a concept from evolution or biology, your point is misplaced. Unless you define "fittest" tautologically, the fittest don't always survive/reproduce.