Simplicity and science

For some weeks, I have every now and then read a few pages from 'Heretics'. In every chapter, Chesterton picks a new topic and argues why this specific point of view is 'heretical'. Several of these chapters discuss specific persons, others consider general ideas. Usually, he argues for 'plain thinking', or 'common sense'. The scientist, for example, who detaches himself from his study of man, tends to misunderstand a lot of things: 'for the secrets about which anthropologists concern themselves can be best learned, not from books or voyages, but from the ordinary commerce of man with man'.
The four pages on 'Sandals and simplicity' are Chesterton at his best: it discusses the impossibility of being 'proud of being simple and direct, and still remain simple and direct'. Chesterton argues against the followers of Tolstoy that 'the only kind of simplicity worth preserving is the simplicity of the heart, the simplicity which accepts and enjoys': 'there is more simplicity in a man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats grape-nuts on principle'.
Chesterton contrasts this argued simplicity with 'plain thinking'. In this case, a child may be our best guide. A child can wonder equally about a tree and a lamppost, for 'both are splendid and unexplained'. He ends his discussion by quoting Matthew 6: "Take no thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."