Science and G.K. Chesterton

Science and G.K. Chesterton

At the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:27 states that "...God created man in his own image, in the image of god he created them". Recently there have been many objections to this idea of creation, the most important example of course being Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection, which obviously takes the claim that humans were created independently without the intervention of Christ; an indirect attempt to point out that "God is dead, that the belief in the Christian god has become unworthy of belief"(Nietzsche 392), but this is not true, we do not have the right to question the power of god, to have faith is to believe without evidence, if we trust in the theory of evolution, we really don't have anything to put our faith in. Through the writings of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, we can help unveil the unreliability of science because of its boundaries and limitations, see that it is illogical to take a scientific perspective on philosophy, and reveal how the progress of science takes away value and purpose in ones life.

Since Chesterton was a very religious man, he didn't like the idea of taking a scientific perspective to things that were obviously a creation of god. He thought it was absurd to try and make sense of gods authority over mankind by questioning it with data and theories all because they were either too stubborn to put faith in a higher power, wanted to feel the security of having a scientifically explained world, or they just opposed religion all together and needed to find ways they could control what was going on instead of god. " A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith" (G.K. Chesterton 220). Chesterton reveals through his writings that science is not completely reliable because it consists of so many limitations, to show this he compares science to an artist and how they need their limitations (such as lines and paper) to help them create their piece of art, "The artist loves his limitations: they constitute the thing he is doing. The painter is glad the canvas is flat. The sculptor is glad the clay is colourless" (G.K. Chesterton221). This is a wonderful example of how people love to use limitations (like science) in order to help them gain a feeling of security.

Chesterton also helps us recognize and reduce creativity, according to modern fact. "If you draw a giraffe, you must draw him with a long neck. If, in your bold creative way, you hold yourself free to draw a giraffe with a short neck, you will really find that you are not free to draw a giraffe. The moment you step into the world of facts, you step into a world of limits" (G.K. Chesterton). You may notice that when a child is growing up they are unusually imaginative and creative, but throughout their growth and education this skill tends to disappear because people are learning to limit themselves in their beliefs. They have become irrational and narrow-minded, almost creating tunnel vision in their search for rationality and security.

Although science and religion differ in almost every way possible, they share one thing in common; they are both ways of achieving the same goal, to exlpain the origin and purpose of our universe. There have been many arguments in the past, such as the Darwin debates at Oxford, and there were also many religious scientists, like Galileo, the fact still remains that science and religion have always come into conflict with each other. Over the course of history humans have (generally speaking) been smart enough to ensure that religious and scientific conflicts didn't come into contact with one another, but when Mr. Charles Darwin decided to rebel against his religious wife and explore the Galapagos islands, it was clear that the way humans have always viewed religion was going to be changed forever, and oddly enough, it came in the form of monkeys. This elevated to a huge debate for evolution. Even Darwins T.H. Huxley, who is known as "Darwins Bulldog", indirectly admitted that he just wanted something with evidence to put his mind at ease,"If I had to chose, I would prefer to be a descendant of a humble monkey rather than of a man who employs his knowledge and eloquence in misrepresenting those who are wearing out their lives in the search for truth"(White 180), he knew that what he was debating was incorrect, but in actuality he wasn't debating for accuracy, he was debating in favor of simplicity.

The theory of evolution not only led to a heated series of debates in the descent of man, but it also took on a social role as many people applied it to humanity as well. Darwin's cousin, Sir Francis Galton, believed that people could not rise above their parent's traits. He encouraged (and heavily influenced) Selective breeding in humans, which actually led to the eugenics program of the1930's; killing or sterilizing many people that were mentally retarded, ignorant, or just proved to be unsuitable for living by the governments standards. There is even evidence that Adolf Hitler himself was heavily influenced by Darwinian thought. Hitler wanted to create a superior race by exterminating the Jews. He wanted to get rid of any and all threats to German domination because he believed that the Germans were the most evolved form of human beings, and that in exterminating the inferior races it would help in the advancement of human civilization as a whole.

These are the kind of effects science has on civilization, and if it keeps progressing, it could happen again. In our determination to better the human race it is possible that would could go far enough to wipe out our civilization (as the Nazis almost did). This is why the writings of G.K. Chesterton's are so importantÐ'- because it helps us reveal the real truth. He is trying to get the message across to the world that philosophy needs to be revived, because every attempt we make at any form of applied science is by its nature "not merely hopeless, but crazy" (Chesterton 143).

Up until now humans trusted the lord without question, however with this new scientific look at philosophy, we now regard Christianity as a thing of the past. This is something that, up until now, we have had trusted in with our mind, body and soul; we had nothing else to go off of. Now that people