Abstract

Matter as such produces nothing, changes nothing, does nothing; and however convenient it may afterwards be to abbreviate our nomenclature and our descriptions, we must most carefully realize in the outset that the spermatozoon, the nucleus, the chromosomes or the germ-plasma can never act as matter alone, but only as seats of energy and as centres of force.Science is a human endeavor that is rarely if ever just about science: it is also a social, political, and economic enterprise. As such it is structured around an ethos: a belief system, or theory, that accounts for the nature of relevant aspects of existence. Much like other belief systems in the broader culture in which they occur, we build stories in defense...