Arthur Keith
Arthur Keith
Sir Arthur Keith FRSwas a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist. He was a fellow and later the Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth5 February 1866
momentum evolution human-nature
Human nature, as manifested in tribalism and nationalism, provides the momentum of the machinery of human evolution.
giving community mental-health
Whichever theory we adopt to give a rational explanation of human existence, that theory must take into account and explain the mental nature we see at work in all modern communities.
religious men leader
Religious leaders and men of science have the same ideals; they want to understand and explain the universe of which they are part; they both earnestly desire to solve, if a solution be ever possible, that great riddle: Why are we here?
race diversity population
There are the further difficulties of building a population out of a diversity of races, each at a different stage of cultural evolution, some in need of restraint, many in need of protection; everywhere a bewildering Babel of tongues.
strong desire reason
Reason has not tamed desire: it is as strong as ever.
government people universalism
Nowhere is Universalism welcomed and encouraged by a people; everywhere governments have forced and are forcing Universalism upon unwilling and resistant subjects.
civilization earlier evolution formed instincts machinery main man primitive seeks suppress
Civilization seeks to suppress all those primitive instincts in man which formed the main part of the machinery of his evolution in earlier times.
accuracy follow man results science
A man of science is responsible for the accuracy of his observations and of his inferences, not for the results which may follow therefrom.
heart sky historical
The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but what takes place in our hearts.
believe special alternatives
Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable.
ethics conviction concerned
My personal conviction is that science is concerned wholly with truth, not with ethics.
country fall civilization
Civilization never stands still; if in one country it is falling back, in another it is changing, evolving, becoming more complicated, bringing fresh experience to body and mind, breeding new desires, and exploiting Nature's cupboard for their satisfaction.
agriculture discovery firsts
The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.
cities organization people
Tribal life comes automatically to an end when a primitive people begins to live in a town or a city, for sooner or later a tribal organization is found to be incompatible with life in a city.