السلام عليكم و رحمة الله
Once upon a time a Russian man sent a letter to his children warning them of one of the dangers of believing that evolution by natural selection is true: it provides no purpose in life.
His name is Leo Tolstoy.
He is better known for his famous big fiction book War and Peace.
He sent a letter to two of his children on November 1st, 1910,
"The views you have acquired about Darwinism, evolution and the struggle for existence won't explain to you the meaning of your life and won't give you guidance in your actions, and a life without an explanation of its meaning and importance, and without the unfailing guidance that stems from it is a pitiful existence. Think about it. I say it, probably on the eve of my death, because I love you."[1]
Sure enough, he loved them and he died 19 days after the letter was sent.
Tolstoy didn't just warn his children about this. He had received two letters from Tarak Das and Tolstoy decided to write a (long) letter called A Letter to a Hindu. In it he explains how science (he meant evolution) is trying to destroy religion to replace it with survival of the fittest - the evolutionary idea that the fittest among the race will conquer whoever he wants whilst the unfittest will die under the fittest. It was due to this letter that Mahatma Ghandi knew Tolstoy.
References
1. Stephen Jay Gould, 1991, Bully for Brontosaurus, Radius, page 327.
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| Leo Tolstoy |
His name is Leo Tolstoy.
He is better known for his famous big fiction book War and Peace.
He sent a letter to two of his children on November 1st, 1910,
 |
| Tolstoy's book. |
Sure enough, he loved them and he died 19 days after the letter was sent.
Tolstoy didn't just warn his children about this. He had received two letters from Tarak Das and Tolstoy decided to write a (long) letter called A Letter to a Hindu. In it he explains how science (he meant evolution) is trying to destroy religion to replace it with survival of the fittest - the evolutionary idea that the fittest among the race will conquer whoever he wants whilst the unfittest will die under the fittest. It was due to this letter that Mahatma Ghandi knew Tolstoy.
References
1. Stephen Jay Gould, 1991, Bully for Brontosaurus, Radius, page 327.
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