As regular readers of 'Musings' know, each night at midnight, I share among other regular posts, the day's quote from A Chesterton Calendar and Antonio, Cardinal Bacci's meditation for the day.
8 March, A Chesterton Calendar
In one of his least convincing phrases, Nietzsche had said that just as the ape ultimately produced the man, so should we ultimately produce something higher than the man. The immediate answer, of course, is sufficiently obvious: the ape did not worry about the man, so why should we worry about the superman? If the superman will come by natural selection, may we not leave it to natural selection? If the superman will come by human selection, what sort of superman are we to select? If he is simply to be more just, more brave, or more merciful, then Zarathustra sinks into a Sunday-school teacher; the only way we can work for it is to be more just, more brave, and more merciful—sensible advice, but hardly startling. If he is to be anything else than this, why should we desire him, or what else are we to desire? These questions have been many times asked of the Nietzscheites, and none of the Nietzscheites have even attempted to answer them.
'George Bernard Shaw.'
8 March, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day
Joseph de Maistre's views on the relationship between knowledge and goodness may seem a little extreme, but they are nothing but the truth. "If the guardianship of education is not restored to the Church, and if knowledge is not everywhere subordinated to goodness, the evils which await us will be incalculable. Science will brutalise us. Because of it men will become more savage than the barbarians."
Great quotes, although we know now that the ape did not produce the man. And is that quote from GKC or from Shaw?
ReplyDeleteIt's from GKC in an essay on Shaw.
Delete