Note 27 — Chapter XX · FABRE’S WRITINGS (CONTINUED)
Bernard Miall translation
Fabre appears to conceive a relation between instinct and the organ analogous to that which obtains between the soul and the body; for him the first element of instinct is an incorporeal element which he does not otherwise define, which he characterises merely as a native impulse, irresistible, infallible and superior to the organism as well as to the sensibility of the insect, although it is not separated from nor completely independent of these.
For the rest, instinct remains a mystery. What it is at bottom, “I do not know, I shall never know. It is an inviolable secret.” Like all true scientists, Fabre recognised the narrow limits of human knowledge and did not fear to admit them. According to him, neither life nor instinct results from matter; we must seek for an explanation not below but above it, and of all the marvels created that compel us to look upward and proclaim the Supreme Intelligence whence they are derived, this is one of the most striking and persuasive: “The more I see, the more I observe, the more this Intelligence shines forth behind the mystery of things.”
Fabre thus joins hands with Pasteur, and may fitly be mentioned in the same breath with him, as one of the most distinguished defenders of spiritual science and belief against materialistic science and atheism. This is all the more remarkable in that Fabre has never attempted to make any apologia, but simply stated whither all his observations and reflections tended. ↑