Evolution Quote by Arthur Keith
![“...the student of prehistoric man...cannot reject [the Castenedolo skull] as false without doing injury to his sense of truth, and he cannot accept it as fact without shattering his accepted beliefs.” quote by Arthur Keith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/02c/arthur-keith-17817_evolution_the-student-of-prehistoric-man-cannot-re_943312.jpg)
““...the student of prehistoric man...cannot reject [the Castenedolo skull] as false without doing injury to his sense of truth, and he cannot accept it as fact without shattering his accepted beliefs.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Evolution of Man by Arthur Keith, 1910
The prehistoric human cannot dismiss the Castenedolo skull without harming his sense of truth, yet cannot accept it without overturning his beliefs.
In simple terms: Balancing evidence and belief is hard.
Key Takeaway
Question evidence, but be ready to revise beliefs.
Themes
science
skepticism
truth
belief
evidence
Mood
thoughtful
inquisitive
Type
analytical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- archaeology research
- academic debate
- museum curation
- public education
Key Concepts
epistemology
cognitive dissonance
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you handle evidence that challenges core beliefs?
- What safeguards can prevent premature conclusions?
A Different Perspective
Evidence may be ambiguous, leading to misinterpretation.
![“The body was the slave of the vortex; but the slave has become the master; and we must free ourselves from that tyranny. It is this stuff [ indicating her body ], this flesh and blood and bone and all the rest of it, that is intolerable. Even prehistoric man dreamed of what he called an astral…” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/504/george-bernard-shaw-68_blood_the-body-was-the-slave-of-the-vortex-but_2612664.jpg)
![“Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to apes to monkeys to lemurs] - leading us insensibly from the crown and summit of the animal creation down to creatures, from which there is but a step, as it seems, to the…” quote by Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f0b/thomas-huxley-1183_animal_perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us_3051.jpg)
