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Thomas Henry Huxley's Agnostic Philosophy of Science Thomas Henry Huxley’s Agnostic Philosophy of Science by Jiwon Byun M.A., The University of Chicago, 2009 B.A., The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Philosophy) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2017 © Jiwon Byun, 2017 ▌ABSTRACT This dissertation examines Thomas Henry Huxley’s notion of agnosticism and its bearings on his conception of science. Although agnosticism is commonly regarded as a position that recognizes the limits of human knowledge, Huxley – who coined the term “agnostic” – characterized it as more than a theory of ignorance or limits. I argue that Huxley intended his agnosticism to be a guide to knowledge that can work regardless of our ignorance or limits. To this end, I draw attention to Huxley’s less famous philosophical works. I examine his discussions of Descartes to show that he had an epistemological project and to clarify the structure of agnosticism; I analyze his Hume to illuminate the reasoning behind his claim that verification is the only justificatory method and to highlight his reasons for situating agnosticism within what he called “modern critical philosophy”; I investigate his other essays to argue that his agnosticism concerns a claim to knowledge and should not be understood as ethics of belief. Based on his epistemological inquiry, Huxley offered a quick guide to knowledge, consisting of an account of legitimate evidence and an ethics of knowing: agnosticism. It can be summarized as follows. Propositions concerning anything beyond phenomena lack evidential value; verified propositions have evidential value; if one wishes to make a claim about the knowledge status of a proposition, one should evaluate the evidence and be honest about the result without further pretension. Huxley discussed the realm of ignorance to show its lack of justificatory value. The signature remark of Huxleyan agnostics is “Show me evidence,” rather than “I don’t know.” This interpretation undermines the widely accepted view that Huxley’s endorsement of agnosticism poses philosophical obstacles to his larger project of promoting science in Victorian society. His intention behind agnosticism was to establish and maintain epistemic merit of science without any unknowable, metaphysical or theological, apparatus. Science is the practice of agnosticism, and for this reason, our best way to knowledge. Our understandings of his life- long project and of the growth of science’s autonomy during the 19th century would remain incomplete without due appreciation of this notion of agnosticism. ii ▌LAY SUMMARY Although agnosticism is commonly regarded as a religious position on the existence of God, the coiner of the term, Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), had more to say. This dissertation presents a more comprehensive understanding of agnosticism and its bearings on the conception of science by examining Huxley’s underappreciated philosophical works. Agnosticism was a guide to knowledge that tells us what to count as evidence and what to do with evidence; his discussed the realm of ignorance to show its lack of evidential value; he understood science as the practice of agnosticism, and for this reason, as our best way to knowledge. This dissertation shows that Huxley’s meta-scientific views deserve philosophical attention: science is metaphysic-agnostic, not metaphysics-free; science needs faith in the sense of trusting and risking. It also leads us to re-visit our preconceptions: agnosticism is not a passive, noncommittal or wishy-washy attitude, but a constructive, firm and confident position. iii ▌PREFACE This dissertation is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Jiwon Byun. iv ▌TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Lay Summary .................................................................................................................................. iii Preface............................................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vii Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. A question for agnostics ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Huxley and Victorian scientific community .................................................................... 5 1.3. Possible reasons for not paying philosophical attention to Huxley ........................ 11 1.4. Structure of the dissertation ................................................................................................ 17 Chapter 2. The Reception of Huxley’s Agnosticism ................................................................... 20 2.1. A science defender’s nescience: a puzzling position ................................................. 20 2.2. Partial approach to Huxley’s agnosticism: the common approach ........................ 23 2.2.1. Type one: an incidentally conjoined position .............................................. 24 2.2.2. Type two: an application of scientific method ............................................ 28 2.2.3. Type three: an intellectual code ..................................................................... 30 2.3. Huxley’s promotion of agnosticism ................................................................................ 33 2.4. Inclusive approach to Huxley’s agnosticism ................................................................ 39 Chapter 3. Huxley’s Cartesian Project ......................................................................................... 43 3.1. Dockrill’s account of Huxley’s agnosticism ................................................................ 44 3.2. The importance of Huxley’s discussions of Descartes .............................................. 48 3.3. Two paths that Descartes opened .................................................................................... 51 3.3.1. The first path: legitimate Idealism ................................................................ 51 3.3.2. The second path: legitimate Materialism ..................................................... 55 3.4. Huxley’s reshaping of Descartes’s project ................................................................... 60 v Chapter 4. Huxley’s Epistemology: Memory, Verification, and Physical Thinking ................... 74 4.1. How to identify knowledge ................................................................................................. 75 4.1.1. Huxley’s Hume ................................................................................................ 76 4.1.2. Anatomy of mind ............................................................................................. 79 4.1.3. Memory ............................................................................................................. 86 4.1.4. Memory as a model of knowledge ................................................................ 90 4.2. Huxley’s defense of the method of verification ............................................................ 96 4.2.1. Metaphysicians’ appeal to necessity ............................................................. 96 4.2.2. Religious thinkers’ appeal to faith............................................................... 108 4.3. Physical thinking as a constituent of a guide to knowledge .................................... 113 Chapter 5. Agnosticism as a Guide to Knowledge .................................................................... 120 5.1. The two paths in agnosticism: an account of legitimate evidence ....................... 120 5.2. Another component of agnosticism: the agnostic principle ................................... 129 5.3. Huxley’s agnosticism and Clifford’s ethics of belief ............................................... 135 5.4. How to follow the agnostic principle ............................................................................ 156 5.5. Agnosticism in the tradition of modern critical philosophy ................................... 173 5.6. Chapter summary ................................................................................................................ 185 Chapter 6. Science and Faith ..................................................................................................... 186 6.1. Huxley’s incapability, insistence, and inconsistence ................................................ 186 6.2. Huxley’s conception of science ....................................................................................... 191 6.2.1. Relying on principles and relying on the principles of science ............... 191 6.2.2. Anti-realistic conception of science ............................................................ 204 6.2.3. Science as
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