Dobzhansky
Biology and the meaning of life
Translated by Dr. Farouk Muhammad Ibrahim
The author embraced the cosmic vision, some of whose diagrams are included in the following pages, for nearly half a century, during which he modified and corrected them. The embryo of the idea arose before the author was twenty, when he was filled with an overwhelming, naive delight in evolutionary biology; The intellectual excitement fostered by the writings of Darwin and other evolutionary scientists confronted that generated by readings of Dostoyevsky, and to a lesser extent Tolstoy, and philosophers such as Soloviev and Bergson; Some reconciliation or harmony seemed necessary, and the urgency of the search for the meaning of life grew in the bloody midst of the Russian Revolution, when the turmoil of life reached its peak and the sense of its meaning sank to its lowest point.
I was fortunate that among my teachers and professors, in Russia, were Professors Kuskevich, Vernadsky, and later Filipchenko, and then Morgan in America. I benefited greatly from my discussions and debates with my friends and colleagues, Obolensky, Obnovlensky, and Levitt in Russia. Wooden, Mirsky, Simpson, and Mayer in America; Birch in America, Brazil and Australia. This recognition of intellectual merit does not indicate that those mentioned agreed with the ideas contained in this book at all. I met Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on two occasions, but I did not succeed in appreciating his greatness until after the publication of his book, which followed his death. The writings of Arnold Toynbee and Paul Tillich influenced my thinking, and I had the pleasure of meeting Toynbee at the Third Delos Conference in July 1965 and discussed with him some parts of this book, which was in its first draft.
Any expertise I have is related to biology, specifically evolutionary genetics. This does not give me permission to issue reflections on the world of philosophy and religion. Scholars often consider such reflections to be regrettable lapses, and perhaps professional misdemeanors. Most likely, it is kept secret because being caught in the dark degrades the professional reputation of the scientific specialist. Let me then state that the nature of this project of mine is not an attempt to derive a philosophy from biology, but rather an attempt to include biology in my cosmic vision. There may be widespread recognition of the relationship between biology and philosophy, and perhaps the relationship between philosophy and biology is stronger than most other sciences. For this reason, the biologist is qualified, in this capacity, to sort out and present the biological facts, theories, and ideas that he sees as important and useful to the human idea in general.
Kind regards to Drs. S. and. M. Coe, Ayala, and Birch, who read and critiqued the manuscript of this book, I benefited from their comments, but that does not make them in any way responsible for errors of deletion or addition, nor does it imply that they agree with all the ideas and viewpoints expressed in the book, for which I bear sole responsibility.
T. Dobzhansky