![]() To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable. ![]() It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a “new idea,” but as a mere “corollary of an old idea.” Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring. Huxley is supposed to have exclaimed after reading On the Origin of Species, “How stupid of me not to have thought of this.”īut why didn’t he think of it? The history of human thought would make it seem that there is difficulty in thinking of an idea even when all the facts are on the table. Once the cross-connection is made, it becomes obvious. ![]() That is the crucial point that is the rare characteristic that must be found. But what you needed was someone who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a cross-connection. Perhaps some both studied species and read Malthus. Undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century, a great many naturalists had studied the manner in which species were differentiated among themselves. ![]() Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |