Reference
- Darwin, DarwinismCharles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) began studying medicine at Edinburgh in 1825, but left after two years to study for the clergy at Cambridge. In 1831 the botanist J. S. Henslow suggested to him that he might join HMS Beagle on its survey of the South American coast, and in the same year he set sail on a momentous voyage lasting almost five years. In 1842 the Darwin family moved to Down House in Kent, where his most famous work The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (published in 1859), and other influential books, were written. In 1857 Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russel WALLACE indicating that the two men were thinking along similar lines as to the mechanism of evolution - natural selection. After many years of ill health, Darwin died at Down House on 19 April 1882 (see website www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Departments/Darwin for his correspondence).
In essence, Darwinism is the thesis that species are not fixed, either in form or number; that new species continue to arise while others become extinct; that observed harmonies between an organism's structure and way of life are neither coincidental nor necessarily proof of the existence of a benevolent deity, but that any apparent design is inevitable given:
a) the tendency of all organisms to over-produce, despite the limited nature of resources (e.g. food) available to them;
b) that few individuals of a species are precisely alike in any measurable variable;
c) that some at least of this variance is heritable; and
d) that some of the differences between individuals must result in a largely unobserved selective mortality, or ‘struggle for existence’, to which (a) must lead. Moreover, he argued, the ‘struggle’ is likely to be most intense between individuals of the same species, their needs being most similar. Darwin's metaphor ‘struggle’ caused much confusion, but his more abstract phrase for the mechanism of evolution, NATURAL SELECTION, has survived the test of time.
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Perspectives
Darwin
In this invaluable book, Tim Lewens shows in a clear and accessible manner how important Darwin is for philosophy and how his work has shaped and challenged the very nature of the subject. Beginning with an overview of Darwin's life and work, the subsequent chapters discuss the full range of fundamental philosophical topics from a Darwinian perspective. These include natural selection; the origin and nature of species; the role of evidence in scientific enquiry; the theory of Intelligent Design; evolutionary approaches to the human mind; the implications of Darwin's work for ethics and epistemology; and the question of how social and political thought needs to be updated in the light of a Darwinian understanding of human nature. A concluding chapter assesses the philosophical legacy of Darwin's thought. Darwin is essential reading for anyone in the humanities, social sciences and sciences seeking a philosophical introduction to Darwin, or anyone simply seeking a philosophical companion to Darwin's own writings.
Darwin's Gift
With the publication in 1859 of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation for nature's diversity. This was to be his gift to science and society; at last, we had an explanation for how life came to be on Earth. Scientists agree that the evolutionary origin of animals and plants is a scientific conclusion beyond reasonable doubt. They place it beside such established concepts as the roundness of the earth, its revolution around the sun, and the molecular composition of matter. That evolution has occurred, in other words, is a fact. Yet as we approach the bicentennial celebration of Darwin's birth, the world finds itself divided over the truth of evolutionary theory. Consistently endorsed as "good science" by experts and overwhelmingly accepted as fact by the scientific community, it is not always accepted by the public, and our schools continue to be battlegrounds for this conflict. From the Tennessee trial of a biology teacher who dared to teach Darwin's theory to his students in 1925 to Tammy Kitzmiller's 2005 battle to keep intelligent design out of the Dover district schools in Pennsylvania, it's clear that we need to cut through the propaganda to quell the cacophony of raging debate. With the publication of Darwin's Gift, a voice at once fresh and familiar brings a rational, measured perspective to the science of evolution. An acclaimed evolutionary biologist with a background in theology, Francisco Ayala offers clear explanations of the science, reviews the history that led us to ratify Darwin's theories, and ultimately provides a clear path for a confused and conflicted public.
Charles Darwin's Zoology Notes and Specimen Lists from H. M. S. Beagle
This transcription of notes made by Charles Darwin during the voyage of H. M. S. Beagle records his observations of the animals and plants that he encountered, and provides a valuable insight into the intellectual development of one of our most influential scientists. Darwin drew on many of these notes for his well known Journal of Researches (1839), but the majority of them have remained unpublished. This volume provides numerous examples of his unimpeachable accuracy in describing the wide range of animals seen in the course of his travels, and of his closely analytical approach towards every one of his observations. Only at the very end of the voyage were his first doubts about the immutability of species expressed consciously, but here are to be found the initial seeds of his theory of evolution, and of the fields of behavioural and ecological study of which he was one of the founding fathers.
The Ethnography of Charles Darwin
Because of his stature as one of the great minds of the nineteenth century, Darwin and his work have been examined from almost every conceivable angle. This has led to much critical disagreement on his thoughts regarding the dignity of man, particularly of aboriginal peoples. This book attempts to reconcile the prevailing dual visions of Darwin--as racist and as humanitarian. By consolidating Darwin's fragmentary ethnographic writings, the text charts his switch from early resignation regarding the victimization of native tribes to advocacy for their plight. While recognizing the differences between modern Europeans and primitive communities, Darwin developed a firm belief in the dignity of man and ultimately viewed the exploitation of aboriginal peoples as morally indefensible.
Darwin's on the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s most famous book On the Origin of Species is without question, one of the most important books ever written. While even the grandest works of Victorian English can prove difficult to modern readers, Darwin wrote his text in haste and under intense pressure. For an era in which Darwin is more talked about than read, Daniel Duzdevich offers a clear, modern English rendering of Darwin’s first edition. Neither an abridgement nor a summary, this version might best be described as a "translation" for contemporary English readers. A monument to reasoned insight, the Origin illustrates the value of extensive reflection, carefully gathered evidence, and sound scientific reasoning. By removing the linguistic barriers to understanding and appreciating the Origin, this edition aims to bring 21st-century readers into closer contact with Darwin’s revolutionary ideas.
"On the Origin of Species"
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Darwin was inconsolable after his daughter perished. He published his species theory finally in 1859, presenting it in a book that has remained in print since its first publishing.
What Darwin Knew and Why It Still Matters
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Retrace Darwin's path to his theory of evolution by natural selection, which appeared in his masterpiece The Origin of Species, published in 1859. Encounter collector Alfred Russel Wallace's astonishing, almost identical, key insight. Detail the types of evidence, not known to Darwin, that have accumulated in the century and a half since his time, extending his ideas to a remarkable degree.
Charles Darwin: His Voyage on the "Beagle"
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowCharles Darwin finds 69 species of beetle in Brazil in one day. In 1835, the "Beagle" arrives at the Galapagos Islands. Here they find creatures that exist nowhere else on Earth. Darwin contemplates an evolutionary theory of life on Earth.
Online Resources
- Darwin's Arch, Darwin Island, Galápagos Archipelago, EcuadorThe article provides information on Darwin's Arch, a rock arch feature located in Darwin Island in Ecuador, with topics mentioned such as Galápagos Archipelago, Wolf-Darwin Lineament, and English scientist Charles Darwin.
- Lamarck and Darwin revisitedEvolution had been puzzled scholars for centuries until Lamarck and Darwin proposed their general theories of evolution. While Lamarck was shown to be wrong, Darwin's insights revolutionized biology.
- The meaning of Darwin's 'abominable mystery'Charles Darwin's "abominable mystery" has come to symbolize just about all aspects of the origin and early evolution of flowering plants. Yet, there has never been an analysis of precisely what Darwin thought was so abominably mysterious. Here I explicate Darwin's thoughts and frustrations with the fossil record of flowering plants as revealed in correspondence with Joseph Hooker, Gaston de Saporta, and Oswald Heer between 1875 and 1881. I also examine the essay by John Ball that prompted Darwin to write his "abominable mystery" letter to Hooker in July of 1879. Contrary to what is generally believed, Darwin's abominable mystery has little if anything to do with the fossil prehistory of angiosperms, identification of the closest relatives of flowering plants, questions of the homologies (and character transformations) of defining features of flowering plants, or the phylogeny of flowering plants themselves. Darwin's abominable mystery and his abiding interest in the radiation of angiosperms were never driven primarily by a need to understand the literal text of the evolutionary history of flowering plants. Rather, Darwin was deeply bothered by what he perceived to be an abrupt origin and highly accelerated rate of diversification of flowering plants in the mid-Cretaceous. This led Darwin to create speculative arguments for a long, gradual, and undiscovered pre-Cretaceous history of flowering plants on a lost island or continent. Darwin also took refuge in the possibility that a rapid diversification of flowering plants in the mid-Cretaceous might, if real, have a biological explanation involving coevolutionary interactions between pollinating insects and angiosperms. Nevertheless, although generations of plant biologists have seized upon Darwin's abominable mystery as a metaphor for their struggle to understand angiosperm history, the evidence strongly suggests that the abominable mystery is not about angiosperms per se. On the contrary, Darwin's abominable mystery is about his abhorrence that evolution could be both rapid and potentially even saltational. Throughout the last years of his life, it just so happens that flowering plants, among all groups of organisms, presented Darwin with the most extreme exception to his strongly held notion natura non facit saltum, nature does not make a leap.
Charles Darwin: English Naturalist
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowHear about Darwin's youth and his 1832 expedition on the H.M.S. Beagle. Studies on the Galapagos and Lyle's "Principles of Geology" led Darwin to formulate his "Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection."